Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Water Polo team went perfect over the weekend at the Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament finishing 4-0 with wins over Fresno Pacific (15-5), Fordham (13-7), McKendree (15-9), La Verne (13-9).
Whittier moves over .500 to 11-7 and have now won five of their last seven.
Game 1 (Fresno Pacific; W, 15-5)
Whittier snapped their two game losing skid against Fresno Pacific and did it in impressive fashion jumping out to a 10-1 lead before holding off the Firebirds 15-5.
Fresno Pacific grabbed a quick lead 1-0 but that would be the last advantage they would have as the Purple & Gold would rattle off 10 unanswered, which included a 7-1 lead at the break.
Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) totaled five goals for the game and was joined by Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.), Tim Aakhus (Bakersfield, Calif.), Tucker Vejsicky (Irvine, Calif.), and Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) who each added two a piece.
Freshman Murat Ersoz (Istanbul, Turkey) played between the posts and finished with eight saves.
Game 2 (Fordham; W, 13-7)
The Poets took on Division I Fordham and like Fresno Pacific jumped out to an early lead and held it before cruising to the six-goal victory.
WC had a 3-1 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 7-2 at the break before outscoring Fordham 4-1 in the third quarter. Fordham fought in the fourth outscoring the poets 4-2 but it wouldn't be enough to complete the comeback.
Ersoz played the entire game and finished with nine saves.
Molthen again proved tough inside finishing with five goals to lead Whittier. Emilio Maldonado (Chula Vista, Calif.) finished with two goals.
Game 3 (McKendree; W, 15-9)
The first match-up of day two was tight early but Whittier was able to use a 6-1 fourth quarter to pull off the route.
The game was tied at 1-1 following the first eight minutes. Four goals in the second would give them a 5-3 halftime lead but that would be cut short as McKendree would rally to pull within one after the third outscoring WC 5-4.
Despite pulling within one, that run would stop quickly in the fourth as Whittier would go on to add six unanswered led by Mirarchi who added four straight.
Mirarchi finished with four goals on the game and was joined by Nick Hyden (Melbourne, Australia), Vejsicky, and Andrew Breeden (Capitola, Calif.) who each added two.
Nikolas Gregov (Sunnyvale, Calif.) played in goal and finished with six saves, while Christopher Ibarra (Chino, Calif.) registered two in 32:00 minutes of action.
Game 4 (La Verne; W, 13-9)
In the final match-up of the tournament, Whittier had a bought with La Verne with no SCIAC implications on the line. Whittier proved tough though for the Leopards opening up the game with a 4-1 run. The deficit was cut in half as the Leos would add three in the second to trail 8-4 at the break but the Poets would hold their advantage by adding another three in the third and two in the fourth to complete the clean sweep at the invite.
Molthen finished with three goals on the game and four attempts. Maldonado and Tol added two and Ibarra would pick up the win between the posts with nine saves.
Whittier remains with their non-conference schedule this Saturday, October 15 as they travel to Santa Barbara, Calif. to take on San Jose State (10:30am) and No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (2:30pm).
