Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team find themselves in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship Game following an upset win over No. 2 Claremont-M-S 8-6.
With the victory the Poets match up once again with Pomona-Pitzer who earned a 16-4 victory over Chapman University in the other semi-final.
The Poets and Sagehens have met twice on the season with Whittier winning 8-6 in their first meeting before PP would hand WC their first conference loss 13-7 on April 1.
Whittier held CMS scoreless over a 12-minute span, which proved to much for the Athena's to overcome as the Purple & Gold avenged their regular season loss to CMS.
The scoring drought spanned from late in the first quarter all the way until the midpoint of the third, which proved to be the game changer.
Both teams traded goals in the first quarter as Whittier scored first from Angelica Hernandez but CMS tied it up soon after at 1-1 with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter on a goal by LillyBelle Deer. Whittier then came back and made it 2-1 from Isabella Gorrocino (East Los Angeles, Calif.) with just under a minute to go in the first, but Deer would add her second of the frame with :17 seconds left that knotted the game up at 2-2.
The second goal from Deer would be the last score from CMS until 3:54 left in the third quarter when Haley Connor would connect, but the Poets managed to hold onto a 6-1 lead before that point with goals from Hernandez, Arlin De La Mora (Commerce, Calif.), and Cynthia Castillo (Los Angeles, Calif.).
The game got exciting in the fourth when CMS stormed back and moved within one 7-6 with back to back tallies from Jessica Gaffney, with the second coming at the 1:44 mark in regulation.
But De La Mora would put the game out of reach :18 seconds later that made it a two-score lead for the Poets as they would go on to win and advance to Sunday's Championship game.
Caitlin Bronzan (Brentwood, Calif.) finished with eight saves in the win, while De La Mora, Hernandez, and Gorrocino each recorded two goals apiece.
Whittier takes on No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow, Sunday, April 26 at 2:30pm as they seek the program's first SCIAC Championship Title.
