WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 2, 2024) – Thanks to a crucial winner from freshman
Adrian Iggstedt (Karlskrona, Sweden / Aspero), the Whittier College men's soccer team successfully fended off a tough Caltech team on the road, 2-1, to earn their third SCIAC win of the season.
The Poets are the second team this season to earn three SCIAC wins, and for that sit second in the standings.
Caltech are among the most improved teams in the conference in the last four years, though the Poets have shown themselves to be among the most improved teams in the country over the last year, proving it once again on Wednesday afternoon. Freshman defender
Jack Hindmarsh (Kristianstad, Sweden / Furulund School) continued to establish himself as a go-to option on the wing with his third goal of the season, which came in just the fourth minute of the game, similarly to Hindmarsh's most recent goal at Occidental College. The freshman took a nice feed from senior
Jazey Zavala (Pomona, Calif. / Diamond Ranch / Fullerton College) in the middle and beat the Caltech keeper to stake the Purple & Gold to an early lead.
However, Caltech were not going to fade easily. After all, the Beavers and Poets once played to a 4-4 draw last year with Caltech retaining the majority of its offensive weapons from that game. Eventually, the Beavers knotted things at one goal apiece, putting the onus on the Poets to take control of the game back if they wanted to come away with three points. Enter Iggstedt, who, in 76th minute, took a feed from junior transfer and fellow supersub
Benjamin Banks (Seattle, Wash. / Edmonds Woodway / Montana State University Billings | Northwest University) and beat the Caltech keeper once more to give his team the lead back. From there, Whittier defenders
Chris Flores (Sylmar, Calif. / Birmingham Community Charter / Los Angeles Mission College) and
Gustav Lind (Stockholm, Sweden / Bromma Gymnasium), who played the full 90 minutes in front of sophomore goalkeeper
Breckon Robirds (Temecula, Calif. / Chaparral), limited the scoring chances on their keeper to make it consecutive wins for the Poets.
Robirds, last week's SCIAC Defensive Athlete of the Week, had another nice game in net, making six saves to stymie the Beavers.
Head Coach
Shea Harwell and the surging Poets will look to make it three consecutive conference wins when they travel to the University of Redlands on Saturday.
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