Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif.- The Whittier College Men's Water Polo team found themselves on the opposite end of a 14-13 loss to the Stags of Claremont-M-S as the battle between the two conference unbeatens took place at Axelrood Pool.
This marks the second loss for the Purple & Gold this season against CMS with the first coming in exciting fashion during the Gary Troyer Invitational (16-14) and for the season they drop to 15-10, 4-1 SCIAC.
Whittier and Claremont-M-S combined for eight goals in the first quarter remaining deadlocked at 4-4.
The Poets then earned two goals off penalty shots early in the second from Marino Fatovic (Dubrovnik, Croatia) that put them in front 6-4 and then 7-6 before capitalizing on a man-up situation from Austin Ringheim (Los Alamitos, Calif.) with 1:30 on the clock that gave them an 8-7 lead at the break.
In the third, it was all Whittier outscoring the Stags 3-1 with Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.), Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy), and Mihailo Vuja (Belgrade, Serbia) moving the score to 11-8 after three quarters of play.
Needing an offensive spark in the fourth, CMS found it in Alex Waggoner and Eric Bakar who each added two goals a piece during the six goal frame. With the game all tied up at 13-13 with just seconds left on the clock, CMS grabbed the biggest steal of the game and came down putting the ball in Peter Hilton's hand who finished top shelf past freshman Oliver Bineth (Budapest, Hungary) as time expired.
This would give CMS the 14-13 victory keeping them undefeated in conference play and a lock in the top spot in the SCIAC Standings.
Fatovic led the Poets with five goals, while Bineth finished with nine saves between the posts.
