Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Water Polo team finished the Gary Troyer Invitational this weekend 2-2 with wins over Div. I Fordham (11-9) and Div. III MIT (9-8) but fell to Cal Baptist (17-11) and then Claremont-M-S (16-14) in the Division III Championship game.
Game 1 (Fordham; W, 11-9)
The Rams came out of the gates quickly taking a 3-1 lead over the Poets and then led 6-5 at the half. Whittier was outscored 3-2 in the third allowing Fordham to take a 9-7 lead after three periods. But in the fourth the Purple & Gold came up big scoring four unanswered with three from Marino Fatovic (Dubrovnik, Croatia) and another from Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) that allowed WC to come away with the come from behind victory 11-9.
Mirarchi finished with four goals along with Fatovic and Nikolas Gregov (Homestead, Calif.) would pick up 11 saves between the posts.
Game 2 (Cal Baptist; L, 17-11)
It was all Lancers in the second game of the Gary Troyer Invitational. Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) got the Poets lone goal in the first period as they trailed 2-1. Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.) would tie things up at 2-2 at the start of the second but CBU would rally for four straight that gave them a 6-2 lead at the half.
The Poets battled in the second half pulling within a goal at 7-6 thanks to Mirarchi and Fatovic but back to back scores from the Lancers would again extend the lead back to three at 9-6.
Late in the third, CBU would put together a 5-0 run that opened the game up and it carried into the fourth as they would add another six en route to the six goal victory.
Christopher Ibarra (Chino, Calif.) got the start in goal and finished with four saves.
Game 3 (MIT; W, 9-8)
The first game for the Purple & Gold on day two of the Invitational was in the Division III Semi-Final against MIT. After one quarter of play the game was deadlocked at 1-1 with Molthen adding the equalizer with 1:06 to play in the frame.
In the second the Poets and MIT would swap goals early but with just three seconds to play in the half, Matthew Orton would put the Engineers in front by one 4-3 as he put away a last second shot.
In the third, Mirarchi would tie things up with a quick goal, would add another a minute later that gave the Poets a one goal lead and Eoghan Foley (Sterling, VA) soon followed with a man-up goal that gave Whittier a two goal advantage.
MIT stopped the bleeding at the 3:19 mark to pull within one but Fatovic would push the lead back to two capitalizing on a man-up with :45 seconds left in the third quarter.
In the final eight minutes, MIT would add the first two strikes that tied things up at 7-7 but again Fatovic and Mirarchi would combo for another two that gave them a 9-7 lead. The Engineers would add one more to pull them to within 9-8 but that's as close as they would get as Whittier would hold on for the one goal victory.
Freshman Oliver Bineth (Budapest, Hungary) started between the posts and picked up the win totaling double digit saves.
Game 4 (Claremont-M-S; L, 16-14)
In the Division III final the Poets and Stags were matched up after CMS beat Johns Hopkins in the other semi-final. Whittier the defending Division III Champs from a year ago were put to the test. The Purple & Gold jumped in front 3-1 after the first quarter with goals from Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), Mirarchi and Molthen. They would continue the run in the second extending the lead to 5-1 after a pair from Mirarchi and would add another three en route to leading 8-4 at the break.
Whittier added the first goal out of the half to move the lead to 9-4 but six straight by the Stags would bring them back into the game as they would take the lead 10-9. Mirarchi stopped the run with his sixth goal of the game that knotted things up at 10-10 and Pratt would respond shortly after with his second that put WC back in front by one.
Pratt would pick up his third at the start of the fourth that would extend the lead to 12-10 but the Stags would go on a run over the final seven minutes outscoring Whittier 6-2, which included the eventual game winners in the final two minutes that secured the upset win.
