Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Water Polo team remains unbeaten in conference play as they needed sudden death overtime Wednesday evening to top the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer 13-12 at the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center.
With the win, the Poets have now won four of their last five and improve to 14-9, 3-0 SCIAC and remain in second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) a game behind Claremont-M-S.
They also move their head to head record with Pomona-Pitzer to 3-0 after beating them 16-9 and 10-9 in their previous two match-ups.
PP got the scoring started with a man-up goal on their first possession. Marino Fatovic (Dubrovnik, Croatia) though would respond with one of his own that tied things up at 1-1 but the Sagehens would find the back of the net once again the next time down the pool again on a man-up opportunity that put them back in front.
Two minutes later sophomore attacker Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) would add his first of the game that leveled it at 2-2 and Fatovic would add a man-up goal soon after that gave the Purple & Gold their first lead of the evening.
In the final 1:21 three goals would be added with Massi leading the charge coming with an extra-man and Tyler Fields (Norwalk, Calif.) would cap off the scoring with a goal with :29 left on the clock that gave Whittier a 5-3 lead after the first eight minutes.
In the second just four goals would be added, Whittier's Julian Droetti (Irvine, Calif.) would add the first that extended the lead to three, PP would add back to back scores both coming in set to pull them within one and Massi would add the final dagger of the half scoring on another man-up that gave the Poets a two goal cushion.
Out of the break, Pomona-Pitzer's offense came alive with four goals, which included a three goal spurt within a two minute window. Mirarchi would end the run with a quick goal off a foul that put Whittier in front 9-8 but the Sagehens would add one more with :28 seconds on the clock that tied things up at 9-9.
In the fourth, playing without senior Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) who picked up his third exclusion in the third period, the Poets saw PP take a 10-9 lead early. Whittier then earned back to back exclusions getting two man-up opportunities with just under six minutes to play but came away empty on both. With 2:26 to play and limited possessions left, Massi would eventually get an opportunity picking up a foul, leading to a quick shot, which he wrapped around a field player and past Sagehen keeper Diemer that tied things up at 10-10.
In the first overtime session, Whittier's Droetti would connect moving the score to 11-10 but less than a minute later, the Sagehens would find the equalizer. In the second session PP would get in front 12-11, but again Massi would come up big again picking up a foul, which he again put through the field players that tied things up at 12-12 sending the game into sudden death.
In the sudden death overtime, PP won the opening sprint and had the first look for the game winner but a strong defensive stand by the Purple & Gold would get the ball back in the hands of Mirarchi who got down the pool quickly drawing an exclusion before moving it over to Droetti nearside and then in set to Gavin Kerr (Palo Alto, Calif.) for the quick one-two combo that sealed the victory for Whittier.
Mirarchi totaled five goals, while Fatovic collected three. Sophomore Andrew Wettstead (Fresno, Calif.) played the entire 40:00 minutes between the posts picking up nine saves in the win.
Whittier travels this Saturday, October 31 to Thousand Oaks, Calif. as they take on Cal Lutheran University beginning at 11:00am.
