Photo: Tony Leon/D3WestPhotography

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Apr. 13, 2022) – Junior Ally Burke (Las Vegas, Nev. / Bishop Gorman) led the Whittier College women's water polo team to an 11-4 victory at Occidental College on Wednesday evening, which completes the season sweep of the Tigers.

The Poets maintained their great collective form as of late, holding the Tigers to just one goal in each frame. Burke, who is among the Poets' top defenders, had a lot to do with that as the Tigers were able to manage just seven shots on net the entire night. Burke also found her openings on the offensive side early and often, scoring all three of her goals in the first half. The Poets took a dominant 6-2 lead into halftime, and with the Poets hanging three more on the Tigers in the ensuing frame, Burke began to shift her focus more towards setting up the pieces around her. She delievered a nice assist on one of Alex Lopez' (Boyle Heights, Calif. Fullerton College) goals, but was not the only Poet to post big offensive numbers against the host Tigers. Senior Teresa Marchetti (Messina, Italy / Liceo La Farina) posted an identical line of three goals and one assist, with two of her goals coming on the back of penalty shots while the other came on the man advantage.

Whittier's second powerplay goal of the game came off the hand of senior Natasha Velez (La Habra, Calif. / Cypress College) with three minutes to go in the first quarter. Other offensive contributors for the Poets included senior Bryanna Santis, who scored two goals and frreshman Emily Flores (Newbury Park, Calif. / Newbury Park) who scored once to round out the goal scorers for the visiting side. Freshman Alexys Puche (Whittier, Calif. / Rosary) played three quarters of Wednesday's game, while senior Lauren Tapia (Whittier, Calif. Rosary) got the start and played the first quarter. Both players combined to make three saves in a game where the Poets were largely able to keep the ball in field of play. By game's end, the Poets had outshot the Tigers 29-13, a more than 2:1 clip.

Head Coach David Kasa and the Poets will host their final home game of the 2022 regular season on Staff Appreciation Night when they take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday, Apr. 20 at 7 p.m. The Poets have already clined a top-three seed in this year's SCIAC Postseason Tournament, but whether or not they will play host to the Athenas or vice-versa will depend on the result of Wednesday night's game.

Follow and show support for your Whittier Poets on Twitter (@WCPoets), Facebook, YouTube and Instagram (@PoetAthletics)!