Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Oct. 30, 2021) – Sophomore winger Tommy Yarbrough (Encinitas, Calif. / La Costa Canyon) of the Whittier College men's soccer team scored the Poets' final goal of the season at California Lutheran University in Saturday night's road contest.

The goal was Yarbrough's second in as many games with this goal coming in a rematch of a September game where the Poets beat the Kingsmen, 2-0. This time, the Poets would need to respond to adversity following an early Cal Lutheran goal, but that's exactly what Head Coach Shea Harwell's Poets would do. Yarbrough tied the game up at one goal apiece less than two minutes into the second half, evening the game with a nice shot off a pass from classmate Nainoa Loschky (Bellevue, Wash. / Interlake), who closes the 2021 season as the Poets' leading point-getter (five goals, four assists). Loschky also finishes the year tied for fifth in the SCIAC in total shots.

From there, the short-handed Poets would do well to hold the Kingsmen off the board while creating their own scoring opportunities. Cal Lutheran finally broke through in the 70th minute with overwhelming pressure, but junior goalkeeper Teddy Nickerson (Seattle, Wash. / O'Dea) did manage to save the first shot of a Kingsmen flurry that would lead to the deciding goal. Nickerson, who finished the season among the SCIAC leaders in goalkeeping minutes per game, finished the day with four saves.

The Poets conclude the 2021 season having won four SCIAC games and six games overall, having done some of their best work early in the season with wins over Marymount University and Vanguard University. The offensive output also showed improvement from the 2019 season with the Poets averaging 14.7 shots per game. With the core of the team still relatively young, Whittier will have ample opportunity to return to SCIAC Postseason Tournament contention in 2022.

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