WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 25, 2024) – The Whittier College women's lacrosse team embarked on a new era of the program when it hosted Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday afternoon.
The Poets played hard for their fans in the debut of rookie Head Coach
Leslie Escobar. Escobar joined the program coming off an assistant coach stint at Fullerton College, and even prepped Whittier for its season opener with a scrimmage against her former team. The talented and experienced Athenas struck quickly, but the Poets had moments throughout the game they will look to build on over the course of the season. Junior
Julianna Hodgson (Fullerton, Calif. / Sunny Hills), who doubles as one of Whittier's top midfielding options on the women's soccer team, scored the first goal of the new era, successfully capitalizing on a CMS penalty to deliver on the powerplay.
Whittier also had an excellent final two minutes of the second half. Following a goal from another junior in
Elizabeth Roybal (West Covina, Calif. / South Hills) (assisted by Hodgson), the Poets then got a great stop out of freshman goalie
Peyton Vannatter, which led to a successful clear that almost set up a third Poets' goal to end the half. Vannatter showed promise in net, making 14 saves over the course of the full 60 minutes.
Escobar and the Poets will turn their attention to California Lutheran University in what should be a more competitive affair. The Poets will host the Regals for the first of two games this year on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.
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