WHITTIER, Calif. (Sept. 11, 2025) – The Whittier College men's soccer team, Region X's eighth-ranked team, remained unbeaten on Thursday evening thanks to some late-game heroics from junior midfielder
Nicholas Coop (La Mirada, Calif. / La Mirada).
The center midfielder got his chance to shine with just under 30 seconds to go in regulation. A Westcliff University foul towards the back part of the first third of the field set Coop up to make some magic in the game's waning moments. The junior delivered with a well-struck ball that went untouched into the left side of the net to essentially secure the Poets' best start to a season in recent history.
The Poets have already been making waves in what has been a topsy-turvy start to the SCIAC season with conference favorites University of Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges starting a combined 2-6-1. The Poets own the cleanest record in the conference at the moment with three wins over NCAA opponents in the Northwest Conference. On Thursday, the Poets moved to 5-0 thanks to the right foot of Coop, but wouldn't have reached that point without some stout defensive play that gave the Warriors problems and frustrated them throughout the full 90.
Westcliff held the advantage following the first half having outshot the Poets, but with no goals to show for it, frustration began to mount in the second half. Excellent play from defenders such as
Jack Hindmarsh (Kristianstad, Sweden / Furulund School),
Connor Gilmore (Los Angeles, Calif. / University High / Santa Monica College) and
Ben Harrison (Salt Lake City, Utah / Olympus) stymied any effort the Warriors could come up with and created multiple counter attacks the visitors could only stop with fouls. Meanwhile, Head Coach
Shea Harwell emptied his bench at various points in the game, giving ample opportunities for players up and down the lineup to make plays and make a case to start in the SCIAC games to come.
The Poets also got a look at a pair of goalkeepers. Junior
Alex Brown (Redlands, Calif. / Redlands) started and impressed with five saves, while classmate
Jake Marks entered the game with 14 minutes to go and made arguably the most impressive stop of the night to take the Purple & Gold across the finish line.
Harwell and the Poets will look to continue their perfect start to the season when they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
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