Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team was without scoring and assist leader Jenel Rivera (Whittier, Calif.) Wednesday night as they suffered a tough 10-7 loss to Claremont-M-S at the Lillian Slade Aquatic Center.
Despite the disadvantage the Poets still had an opportunity midway through the fourth to pull off the victory and hand the Athena's their first loss of the season.
The first quarter was a defensive battle with the Poets high octane offense being held to one goal from Kendyl Riley (Huntington Beach, Calif.).
Isabella Gorrocino (East Los Angeles, Calif.) would tie things up at 2-2 at the 7:08 mark in the second quarter but CMS would go on a run of two straight that put them in front by two. Then with :17 seconds left in the half the Poets would pull within one once again but this time coming from Cynthia Castillo (Los Angeles, Calif.) that moved the score to 4-3.
The second half was a back and forth battle with a combined 10 goals being scored. At the end of the third, the Athena's found themselves leading by two despite WC pulling within one on two different occasions during the frame.
In the final stanza Zyania Morales (Commerce, Calif.) and Angelica Hernandez and the rest of the Poet squad came out rejuvenated scoring the first two goals to tie things up at 7-7, while inducing three CMS turnovers on their first three possessions.
But that would be the last time the Poets would find the back of the goal, as Athena goalie Allison Hu would come up with big stops down the stretch that allowed Claremont-M-S to escape with the three goal victory.
Morales and Hernandez led the offense with two goals each, while Caitlin Bronzan (Brentwood, Calif.) picked up eight saves between the posts.
Whittier returns to the pool this Saturday, April 11 on the road as they travel to Pasadena, Calif. where they will take on Caltech beginning at 11:00am.
