Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team swept the competition Wednesday cruising to the 10-2 victory over Macalester College before starting Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition in the nightcap rolling past Redlands 11-4.
With the two wins Whittier snaps a five game losing skid, all coming against Division I opponents as they improve to 12-7, 1-0 SCIAC.
Game 1 (Whittier – 10, Macalester – 2)
Whittier added three straight to get things started from Cynthia Castillo (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Jenel Rivera (Whittier, Calif.) within the first four minutes of the first quarter. From there, the starters all were pulled and the two other units came in playing significant minutes over the final three periods.
The Poets received another two goals from Hayley Parker (Redwood City, Calif.) and Kayanna Heffner (Bend, OR) in the second that moved the score to 5-1 at the half.
Hannah Ellett (Merced, Calif.) added the first goal out of the intermission coming off a rebound at the 6:48 mark and in the fourth, Heffner, Celeste Moreira (Downey, Calif.), Kaitlin Vera (Fullerton, Calif.), and Leimana Hassett (Lahaina, HI) all added strikes that sent the Poets to the lopsided victory.
In goal, Caitlin Bronzan (Brentwood, Calif.) picked up five saves in the win.
Game 2 (Whittier – 11, Redlands – 4)
The Poets traveled out to Redlands for the nightcap to get SCIAC play underway. There they saw themselves waiting for an hour in a delay due to lightning warnings. But after the delay was extended the game was called with Whittier leading 11-4 after three quarters of play.
Full recap to follow
Whittier has a full weekend coming up. They begin at the LMU Zumo Invite today and tomorrow, March 20-21 where thye will take on Loyola Marymount (Friday, March 20 @ 10:30am), Concordia (Friday, March 20 @ 2:15pm), Cal Baptist (Saturday, March 21 @ 9:15am), and Princeton (Saturday, March 21 @ 1:00pm). Then on Sunday, March 22 the Poets host non-conference opponents Cal State East Bay (10:00am) and Brown University (4:00pm).
