Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

EAGLE ROCK, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2021) – The Whittier College men's soccer team found itself in an impromptu firefight at SCIAC foe Occidental College on Wednesday night, with the Poets turning what appeared to be a tough loss on the road into a competitive game by the 90th minute with some positive takeaways.

Despite falling into a four-goal hole late in the game, the Poets showed their resilience and began to dig out of it, slowly but surely. A foul committed in the box by the Tigers in the 82nd minute began to shift the momentum in the Poets' favor, and sophomore midfielder Nainoa Loschky (Bellevue, Wash. Interlake) successfully converted the penalty kick attempt for his third goal of the season. While Occidental would score one more time, the Poets refused to go away, with freshmen Andrew Elmore (Portland, Ore. / Central Catholic) and Hayden Barnouw (Seattle, Wash. / Roosevelt) scoring their first goals for the Purple & Gold in the 84th-minute to cut the deficit back down to two. The Poets' offense, which fired off 10 shots in the second half, never let up but did run out of time for pulling off the improbable comeback. Junior goalkeeper Teddy Nickerson (Seattle, Wash. / O'Dea) made five saves in net for the Poets.

Head Coach Shea Harwell and the Poets will be in search of their third conference victory of the season when they travel to Caltech (0-8, 0-6 SCIAC) on Saturday, Oct. 9 for an 11 a.m. meeting.

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