Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 3, 2024) – Led by strong performances from senior international
Relja Mitic (Nis, Serbia / Grammar School / Stevan Sremac Concordia University Irvine), the Whittier College men's water polo team defeated Division I Wagner College and Division II Biola University in Thursday's mini tournament in Whittier.
Wagner received votes in the latest ACWPC national poll, resulting in the Poets' highest quality victory of the season to date.
Game 1: Whittier 9, Wagner 8
Mitic, who has primarily stood out this year for his defensive capabilities, led the Poets with three goals against a tough Wagner team in a gritty game that came down to the final minutes. After a couple possessions where both team were able to successfully stymie one another at 7-7, Mitic came through the with the winner on a tough look in front of the Seahawks' net to give the Poets their seventh win of the season.
Sophomore
Brody Haney (Tustin, Calif. / Beckman / Mt. Saint Mary's University) and freshman
Ivan Cubelic (Split, Croatia / Solaris) joined Mitic as players with multiple goals, but perhaps just as of note, Mitic was able to shut down one of Wagner's top goal scorers for the majority of the game. The star Seahawk did not even hit the scoresheet until the visitors' game tying goal with just over three minutes to play in regulation.
Freshman goalie
Loronzo Angolucci (Pescara, Italy / Serie B) had another impressive outing in net, posting a near 2:1 save-goals allowed ratio. He added 13 stops to his impressive season-long total, as both he and senior
Kenshiro Matsuzawa (Chiba, Japan / Yachiyo / St. Francis Brooklyn) have formed arguably the conference's most impressive goalkeeping duo.
Game 2: Whittier 15, Wagner 9
In the middle game, Biola and Wagner fought to sudden-death overtime, which meant the Poets drew an Eagles team on less than an hour rest, but a tough team nonetheless. Whittier jumped out to an early lead behind two of freshman
Ethan Klerck (Cape Town, South Africa / South African First Division)'s five goals on the day, but the Eagles fought back and put their depth and experience on full display.
Whittier took a 9-8 lead into the thrid quarter, however, and seemed prepared to gut out a tough win that would keep the Poets unbeaten at the Slade Aquatics Center this season. However, Biola struck fast with a nice goal to tie the game, prompting the Poets to aggressively respond against the fatiguing visitors. Over the game's final seven and a half minutes, Whittier scored six unanswered goals to leave the Eagles in the dust. Two of these goals came off the back-handed shot of Haney, while Klerck, along with freshman
Zander Montoya (Tustin, Calif. / Beckman / Mt. Saint Mary's University) were able to burying five-meter penalty goals to keep the Purple & Gold out in front for good.
Head Coach
Preslav Djippov and the Poets will now compete in four games this weekend at the annual Gary Troyer Tournament in Claremont, Calif. They will lead off the weekend against fellow Division III Augustana College on Friday.
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