Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – With temperatures soaring in the triple digits Saturday morning, the Whittier College Men's Soccer team saw their second straight loss occur at the Donald E. Graham Soccer Field as they fell 2-1 to Pomona-Pitzer.
In a must win game, the Purple & Gold despite fighting back to tie up the game right before the half were unable to beat the heat or find the equalizer as they fell to 4-7-1, 3-6-1 SCIAC.
Pomona-Pitzer got lucky in the first half with their first goal coming off a failed clear attempt by Jorge Rivas (Lake Forest, Calif.) in the first two minutes who took a touch and struck the ball off of Voja Maric, which wound up finding the back of the goal on the ricochet.
Maric would take another two shots over the next ten minutes with one hitting the post and the other being saved by Rivas. He would have another opportunity later in the half following a foul he earned in the box drawing a PK. But Rivas came up big denying the sophomore attacker diving to his right picking up one of his biggest stops of the season.
Whittier continued to pressure the ball and would find chances themselves with Ricardo Pena (Bell Gardens, Calif.) forcing Sagehen keeper to make a diving save in the 23rd minute. But the Poets wouldn't stop the attack finding the equalizer in the 36th minute from freshman Jacob Conlon (Fullerton, Calif.) who put away a header to the top left corner over an outstretched hand of Mitchell coming off a cross from Jacob Schaniel (San Diego, Calif.). This is Conlon's fourth goal in as many contests and is now second on the team in goals scored.
Out of the break, the Sagehens would break the tie two minutes in but this time from Aidan Ferrer who received a through ball from Peter Rentzepis before slotting it home bottom left corner, despite Rivas getting a hand on it. This ended up being the eventual game winner despite Whittier totaling another eight shots with three coming on good looks in the middle from Yvan Monreal (Placentia, Calif.) and Pablo Gomez (Cardiff by the Sea) and another being blocked from Ryan Wood (Wilsmlow, England).
Whittier outshot Pomona-Pitzer 22-13 and held the advantage on corner kicks 8-6 but were unable to find the back of the goal in the second half. Conlon, Dylan Fortin (San Diego, Calif.) and Wood would each total four shots, while Rivas collected three saves in the loss.
Whittier travels now for a two game road stand beginning with Caltech next Wednesday, October 14 beginning at 4:00pm before traveling into Los Angeles, Calif. to take on the Tigers of Occidental College on Saturday, October 17 beginning at 7:00pm.
Become a fan of WC Athletics on Facebook: wcpoets or thewcsn
Follow WC Athletics on Twitter: @wcpoets or @thewcsn
WC Athletics on Instagram: thewcsn
Watch WC Athletics videos on YouTube: The Whittier College Sports Network
