Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
ORANGE, Calif. – The Whittier College Women's Water Polo team opened up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Wednesday night rolling Chapman University 16-11.
The Purple & Gold keep their winning streak intact at three games, have won four of their last six and improve to 5-4, 1-0 SCIAC.
Teresa Marchetti got the scoring started in the first minute and a half. Chapman though would respond with three of the next four goals to go on top 3-2. But after that it was all Whittier adding seven unanswered that spanned a minute into the 3rd Quarter.
The Poets outscored the Panthers 6-1 in a lopsided 2nd Quarter as they would go into the break leading 7-3. Goals during that run came from Bianca Vera (Los Angeles, Calif.), Natasha Velez (La Habra, Calif.), Grace Arnsparger (Long Beach, Calif.), Jacqueline Au (Los Angeles, Calif.), Sawyer Bellville (Chino, Calif.), and Marchetti.
Chapman ended the run with back to back responses early in the 3rd that cut the deficit to four. Velez then completed the hat trick at the 3:31 mark in the frame. But after that CU would battle back with another two tallies that again made it a three-goal game. Vera and Marchetti would come up big back two connections on back to back possessions for the Purple & Gold that stretched the lead back to five and from there it was back and forth with Chapman unable to get any closer.
Down the stretch Ana Alumbaugh (Honolulu, HI), Bellville, Velez, and Amelia Gregorio (Aventura, FL) would secure the road win. Whittier was outshot on the night 27-25 and was 0-for-10 on power-plays.
Lauren Tapia (Whittier, Calif.) started in goal for the Poets and played all 32:00 minutes finishing with a save and a steal. Velez had her breakout game of her career with four goals and a steal. Marchetti added three goals and Vera and Bellville each added a pair of tallies.
Whittier gears up for the Claremont Convergence this weekend, March 6-7. They start off with match-ups against Fresno Pacific (March 6 @ 10:00am) and Concordia (March 6 @ 1:45pm) and then take on Cal State Monterey Bay (March 7 @ 10:15am) and St. Francis (N.Y.) (March 7 @ 2:00pm).
