Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

ORANGE, Calif. - For the second straight game the Whittier College Men's Water Polo team has seen a decision come down to the final minute as they held off Chapman University 12-11.

The Purple & Gold rebounded after their 7-6 loss to Redlands and improve to 9-11, 4-3 SCIAC.

Freshman Eric Borunda (Whittier, Calif.) led the offense providing four goals and sophomore Carlos Heredia Viteri (Commerce, Calif.) added a hat trick on the evening.  

After an early goal from the Panthers the Poets countered with back to back connections over the next six minutes from Heredia Viteri.  But that lead didn't last as CU would come back with another two strikes, one with :03 seconds remaining in the quarter to take a 3-2 lead.  

The Poets came out strong in the second quarter taking a 4-3 advantage thanks to Cornelis Kriek (Pretoria, South Africa) and Heredia Viteri.  But again CU didn't back down regaining the lead 5-4.  Over the final four minutes of the half the Poets and Panthers combined for four goals with CU holding a 7-6 lead at the break.  

The third quarter was back and forth with Whittier striking first with two quick goals from Borunda to swing the momentum.  Chapman tied things up soon after with just over five minutes to play but Hans Zdolsek (Linkoping, Sweden) and Borunda would tack on another two to end the quarter to take a two-goal lead.  

It was a defensive stand in the fourth quarter with a combined three goals being scored.  The Poets struck first from Borunda extending the lead to 12-9 and was able to stand strong down the stretch even with CU tacking on another two to cut the deficit to one.  

Murat Ersoz (Istanbul, Turkey) played all 32:00 minutes posting 12 saves.                              

Whittier returns home tomorrow, Thursday, October 18 to host Cal Lutheran University beginning at 4:00pm.