La Verne, Calif. - Poets men's soccer battled the La Verne Leopards on Wednesday night and came away with a 3-1 loss. Whittier forward Fabian Gluch opened the scoring in the 16th minute and provided the Poets their only goal of the game, while Jack Hindmarsh provided the assist.

Whittier applied pressure just after kick-off in the first eight minutes and earned three corner kicks as well as two shots from Gluch and Guillermo Ramirez.

Moments later, Hindmarsh drove down the left side, showing off his pace. He laid the ball off for Gluch, who turned and, on his second touch, buried the ball into the bottom right corner to beat the Leopard's keeper. Whittier looked sharp and led 1-0.

The Poets were on the attack the entire half as they outshot La Verne 8-4 and won the corner kick battle 5-2. Gluch's goal was the difference at halftime.

In the second half, the Leopards returned the favor with three unanswered goals in the 57th minute, 70th minute by way of a penalty kick and the 83rd minute.

With many scoring opportunities being created, the Poets were unable to find the back of the net as the Leopards contained any chance of a momentum swing.

While the Poets outshot the Leopards 14-12 and 10-2 on corner kicks, it was not enough to come away with the victory.

The Poets, now 3-2-5 overall and 2-1-1 in SCIAC conference play, go back on the road at Pomona-Pitzer this Saturday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m. Catch all the action on FloCollege.

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