Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – Two days after upsetting No. 16 Navy, the Whittier College Men's Water Polo team returned to the pool but this time against No. 14 The Air Force Academy but came up short falling 13-9.
Their second match-up of the day came against Orange Coast College but weren't challenged as they rolled to the lopsided 14-4 victory to improve to 7-5.
Game 1 (Air Force; L, 13-9)
The Falcons would score on their first possession and Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) would connect soon after capitalizing on a man-up situation. But that would be the lone score by the Purple & Gold the rest of the period as AF would add another four to go in front 5-1.
The deficit would reach six at the start of the second with the Falcons adding another two but Austin Ringheim (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.) would stop the bleeding adding another two for the Poets to pull them within five at the break.
Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) would get into the scoring column following a man advantage that got the Poets within four but Air Force would add another two to extend their lead back to six.
Despite adding another two from Marino Fatovic (Dubrovnik, Croatia) and Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) in the third, Whittier saw AF maintain that six-goal lead headed into the fourth.
In the final period, Whittier outscored the Falcons 3-1 with goals from Mirarchi, Eoghan Foley (Sterling, VA), and Julian Droetti (Irvine, Calif.) but it would be a little too late as AF would hold on for the four-goal victory.
Christopher Ibarra (Chino, Calif.) would come in for freshman Oliver Bineth (Budapest, Hungary) and would put together a strong performance between the posts finishing with eight saves.
Game 2 (Orange Coast College; W, 14-4)
The starters played for a quarter and a half in the second game on the day. Orange Coast started off the game strongly adding the first score and then took the lead again at the 6:25 mark. But Molthen, Tol, and Gavin Kerr (Whittier, Calif.) would find the back of the net to close out the frame that gave WC a 4-2 lead, which they wouldn't relinquish.
Whittier held the Pirates scoreless in the second and third quarters, while extending their lead to 10-2. OCC wouldn't stop the run till the 7:05 mark in the fourth but were still outscored 4-2 in the final eight minutes.
11 different Poets scored on the afternoon led by Kerr, Fatovic, and Tyler Breen (Hillsborough, Calif.) who each added two a piece.
Andrew Wettstead (Fresno, Calif.) was rock solid in goal finishing with a career high six saves.
Whittier begins preparations for the Gary Troyer tournament, which will take place this weekend October 2-3 in Claremont, Calif. where they will take on Fordham, Cal Baptist, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and either Claremont-M-S or Johns Hopkins.
