WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 19, 2023) - The Whittier women's water polo team played its first home game of the season today against the visiting University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The women played hard, but in the end, the Blues swam away with an 8-4 victory over the Poets. 

As the whistle blew to begin the game, both teams came out ready to fight. The game remained scoreless for the first few minutes as the teams showed off their defenses. Unfortunately, Toronto went on a run to end the first with a 3-0 lead. 

The second quarter began and Whittier started it off with a beautiful goal by sophomore Emily Flores. However, the Blues also went on a run and grabbed a 6-1 lead over the Poets. Jaycee Morris ended the half for the Poets with her first goal to make the score 6-2 Blues at halftime. 

Both teams showed good defense in the third only allowing one goal to each other. Senior defender Ally Burke was able to set herself up for a nice shot this period as the score was 7-3 going into the fourth. 

The teams continued to play good defense in the final period. Amelia Bennett snipped a shot that found the back of the net to score her first goal of the game. The Poets though could not come back in the final period and Toronto was able to hold on to win by a score of 8-4.

The Poets were not able to win this game, but did have some positives. They only allowed 2 goals in the second half and goalie Alexys Puche came away with 5 steals in the game. Bennett and Flores also showed great defense coming away with multiple steals. 

The Poets' next game will be this Saturday as they have a double-header matchup against 2 division II teams. They will take on Concordia of Irvine at 9:00 AM followed by a matchup against Biola at 1:00 PM. Both these games will take place at home in the Lillian Slade Aquatics Center.

Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

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