Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
REDLANDS, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Water Polo team came up with a huge win Wednesday evening on the road in a hostile environment as they edged the University of Redlands 10-9 at the Thompson Aquatic Center.
The win avenges an earlier loss to the Bulldogs back on October 1 during the CBU Invite where the Poets fell 7-5. It also extends their winning streak to three games and moves them to 15-10, 4-1 SCIAC and sole possession of 2nd place in the SCIAC Standings.
Whittier trailed by one 6-5 heading into the fourth quarter but found an offensive spurt outscoring the Bulldogs 5-3 that proved the difference.
UR jumped in front 2-0 but it was short-lived as Whittier's Marko Monic (Zagreb, Croatia) and Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.) would respond with two of their own that tied things up.
With two seconds remaining in the quarter, Redlands would gain a slight advantage capitalizing on a man-up that moved the score to 3-2. Tim Aakhus (Bakersfield, Calif.) leveled the game again to get things started in the second quarter but again UR would go back in front, this time by three following three unanswered that carried over into the third frame.
Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.) stopped the bleeding with a 6 on 5 goal that pulled the Poets within two at the 2:23 mark and Tyler Fields (Norwalk, Calif.) would get into the scoring category soon after that cut the deficit to one.
UR added the first goal of the fourth that gave them a 7-5 advantage but WC would rally scoring five straight from Nick Hyden (Melbourne, Aus.), Monic and Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) that moved the momentum back in the Poets favor giving them a 10-7 lead.
Redlands tried to come back in the final 3:45 adding two more goals, which included a tally with three seconds to play but it wouldn't be enough as WC would hold on for the one goal victory.
Whittier returns to the pool this Saturday, November 5 as they travel to take on Caltech beginning at 11:00am. They then move over to Division I UCLA at 5:00pm and will take on the Bruins in their final non-conference game of the season.
