Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Whittier College Men's Soccer team secured a spot in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Post Season Tournament Saturday following a scoreless draw with Cal Lutheran University.
The Purple & Gold attempted to win their fourth straight game but still picked up a crucial point within the SCIAC Standings as they sit in a tie with Claremont-M-S atop the leaderboard. Redlands isn't far behind trailing in 3rd by only three points and Occidental College in 4th (19 Points). Whittier improves now to 8-3-2, 7-1-2 SCIAC.
Whittier had their offense clicking on all cylinders on the night but couldn't get anything to drop as they outshot the Kingsmen 13-4. They also held the edge on corner kicks at 4-2.
Matteo Loi (Kirkland, WA) got off the only two shots in the first half for WC. One was on frame and the other was high.
CLU got their first look on goal in the 24th minute with a shot from just outside the penalty area, which was flicked towards the goal by Aaron Winsick but Teddy Nickerson (Seattle, WA) between the posts would make an impressive stop that would deny the go-ahead goal.
In the second half CLU got another look with the go-ahead strike this time from Adrian Graciano who took a shot from 25-yards out, but his look would hit the crossbar rebounding back into play.
Whittier had a great chance to get on the scoreboard in the 57th minute from Ethan Fletcher (Fort Collins, CO) when he got through on goal before getting a one-on-one opportunity with Kingsmen keeper Owen Ebner. But Ebner would come out on top getting the stop keeping the Poets off the board.
In the final ten minutes of regulation, Whittier pressed high up on the pitch in an attempt to find the winning goal and was able to get off looks from Loi, Alejandro Trujillo (Buena Park, Calif.), and Nicolas Barrera (Bellflower, Calif.) but all three would get denied by Ebner sending the game into OT.
In extra time Whittier outshot Cal Lutheran 4-0 receiving back to back strikes on frame from Parker McDonald (Corona, Calif.) and then another two from Barrera and Trujillo but all would come up empty as the game would end in a scoreless draw.
Nickerson played all 110:00 minutes and finished with a pair of saves. Loi took four shots with two on frame and Barrera, Trujillo, Fletcher, and McDonald would each take two shots.
Whittier has their biggest game of the season this Wednesday, October 30 when they host Claremont-M-S with the SCIAC Championship on the line. Game time set for 4:00pm.
