Oct. 8, 2014
Courtesy WCPoets.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Water Polo Team wrapped up the Gary Troyer Tournament Saturday winning the DIII Championships as they earned an 11-9 victory over John Hopkins University. Whittier went undefeated on the tournament going 4-0 with victories over Washington & Jefferson, George Washington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and John Hopkins en route to the title.
The Poets who came into the tournament ranked No. 16 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Varsity Polls and No. 1 in the CWPA Division III polls improved to 11-7 on the season. The Tournament included 20 teams with the top two teams from the East Coast and the top two teams from the West Coast competing in a battle for the Div. III Championship. Troyer, who passed away in December 2011, was a long-time swimming and water polo coach for Pomona-Pitzer, one of the three hosts for the tournament. He was the recipient of the SCIAC Distinguished Service Award in 2007 and inducted into the Pomona-Pitzer Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Game 1 (Washington & Jefferson; W, 14-9)
Kyle Catino (Lake Forest, Calif.) got the scoring started on the Poets first possession. Following a W&J goal that evened things up, Whittier would expand their lead to 4-1 with three consecutive goals from Wedge Molthen (Buena Park, Calif.), Marko Zuric (Split, Croatia), and Goran Mataic (Split, Croatia). Catino would add his second tally of the game with :43 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give the Poets a three goal advantage at the break. Out of the break, Whittier would put the game out of reach, with three straight from Austin Ringheim (Los Alamitos, Calif.), Gavin Kerr (Palo Alto, Calif.), and Zuric. Aidan Tol (Tustin, Calif.) would add the ninth goal of the third quarter before the Purple & Gold would add another five in the final frame to put the game away.
W&J would provide a scare for the Poets midway through however scoring four unanswered to pull within two capped off with a five meter from Carl Krause, but Molthen stepped up big adding two of his game high four goals over the next two minutes securing the victory for the Poets. Ryan Brunansky (Poway, Calif.) got the start in goal and finished with 14 saves.
Game 2 (George Washington; W, 12-10)
In the second game of day one, Whittier faced off against Division I George Washington. The Poets and Colonials would swap goals for much of the first half. Whittier led 3-2 after the first quarter but saw GW tie it up on their first possession in the second. But back to back goals from Mataic and Filip Delic (Split, Croatia) would give the Poets a 5-3 lead, which they wouldn't relinquish as they would get another two goals from Mataic and Christian Sook (Hanford, Calif.) to move the score to 7-5 at the break. Mataic and Molthen would add the first two scores out of intermission to make the deficit four. Jonah Dowd would stop the run at the 6:25 mark but another two goals from Zuric and Mataic would keep the Poets in front 11-6. Training 11-8 going into the final quarter, GW would get another two goals but it wouldn't be enough as Molthen would add the final blow to the Colonials. Brunansky again got the start in goal finishing with 11 saves playing all 32 minutes.
Game 3 (MIT; W, 16-7)
MIT came into the contest with two straight victories over La Verne and Caltech on day one but faced a tough match-up with the Poets. Whittier used a big first quarter scoring five straight from Delic (2), Massimiliano Mirarchi (Rome, Italy), Zuric and Molthen. They would add another three to go in front 8-0 before the Engineers would find the back of the net with 2:13 to play in the second. Trailing 9-2 at the break, MIT looked to make a comeback in the second half but had no answer for the Poet firepower as they allowed another seven goals with three coming in the third quarter and four in the fourth led by Tucker Vejsicky (Irvine, Calif.) who had two in the final frame. The margin became as much as seven at 11-4 and despite a strong comeback effort, it wouldn't be enough as MIT would get rolled 16-7.
Game 4 (John Hopkins; W, 11-9)
In the Championship Game of the Gary Troyer Tournament the Poets matched up against John Hopkins for the first time in the program's history and came away with yet another convincing victory bringing home the Championship. John Hopkins who was coming off a victory over Claremont-M-S in the semi-final 15-10 fell behind early 3-0 following goals from Ringheim, Molthen, and Justin Pratt (Manhattan Beach, Calif.). The Blue Jays would answer with their own run however evening the game up at three. But again WC would add another two from Mirarchi and Catino that moved the score to 5-3 at the end of one. Whittier struck again for two in the second quarter that put the deficit at four and despite a 2-1 run to close out the frame for John Hopkins, the Poets still led 8-5 at the break.
The Blue Jays would pull within two out of the half and again with 2:17 to play but Mataic would answer making the score 10-7 after three quarters. In the final frame John Hopkins managed to add another two to keep the pressure on the Purple & Gold but the early deficit was too much to overcome as Whittier would hold on for the two goal victory. Mirarchi would finish with three goals for the game and Molthen would collect two.
