Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – After cruising past Occidental College in the morning contest, the Whittier College Men's Water Polo team pulled off the biggest win of the season thus far upsetting No. 19 Loyola Marymount 8-7 to keep their perfect record intact at 5-0.
Game 1 (Occidental; W, 15-6)
Whittier rolled past the Tigers in a non-conference match-up going in front 4-0 after the first eight minutes before stretching their lead to 7-0 two minutes into the second.
Oxy finally got onto the scoreboard with under a minute to play that moved the score to 8-1 at the break.
The deficit moved to 10 at the end of the third quarter and the Purple & Gold would pile it on with another five coming in the final frame that propelled them to the lopsided victory.
Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy) led the team in scoring with three along with Tucker Vejsicky (Irvine, Calif.), while Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.), Hunter Pelletier (Miami, FL), and Nick Hyden (Melbourne, Australia) each had two.
Game 2 (Loyola Marymount; W, 8-7)
The second match-up on the day proved the battle between a nationally ranked team within the Collegiate Water Polo (CWPA) varsity polls and a team who was on the outside looking.
LMU came into the match-up ranked No. 19 in the polls but was given all they could handle by the Purple & Gold as they would hold on late to upset the Lions.
The game proved a defensive stand in the first quarter with each team adding three goals apiece. Mirarchi and Julian Droetti (Irvine, Calif.) would put WC back in front by one on two different occasions soon after, while Mirarchi would add the final dagger right before the half giving Whittier a two goal advantage 6-4.
In the third, Whittier was held scoreless, while LMU would capitalize on an early exclusion that deadlocked the game at 6-6.
In the final eight-minute period the game turned into a seesaw battle. Mirarchi connected on the go ahead goal at the 6:48 mark and Marko Miocic (Great Neck, NY) would come up big with a skip shot soon after from up top that gave the Poets a two-goal advantage. But that lead wouldn't hold as the Lions would storm back with a strike with 5:02 to play before being denied by freshman goalie Murat Ersov (Istanbul, Turkey) down the stretch, which included a last second shot within five meters that secured the upset victory.
Mirarchi finished the game with four goals.
Whittier has a quick turn around as they travel to the Inland Empire Classic, tomorrow, Sunday, September 11 where they will take on Division I powerhouses USC (10:20am and UC Irvine (3:00pm).
