LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct. 29, 2008) –
Occidental College was able to convert their final three power
plays led by an important goal from senior John
Wensman with three minutes to play, giving the Tigers a
two-goal cushion, en route to a 12-10 victory over the Whittier
College Poets in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference play today at the Lillian Slade Aquatics Center.
Abiel Garcia was a key player
today, especially in the final three minutes of regulation as the
senior scored a pair of goals and drew an ejection to help the
Tigers maintain their lead.
Occidental trailed 2-0 early on, but used a
two goal performance form the nation's third leading scorer,
Andrew Valdes to take a momentary 3-2 lead in the
first quarter.
Whittier would retaliate with a score just
before the buzzer to knot things up at 3-3 heading into the second
period of play. Oxy immediately regained the lead when Jake
Santelli found the back of the net, followed by a pair of
penalty shots from freshman Brendan Whittemore and
sophomore Austen Oliver to take a three-goal lead
into the locker room.
In the second half Oxy built on their lead,
but the Poets chipped away, pulling within one at the end of the
third to show the score at 8-7.
Valdes put the Tigers back up 9-7 just over a
minute before Wensman's power play goal for a two-goal lead.
Garcia then used back-to-back goals out of 2-meter range,
accounting for the ultimate winning goal at the 2:00 mark adding an
insurance goal with 39 seconds remaining in the game.
For the third consecutive game Valdes scored
four goals, pushing his season total to a new Occidental College
single-season record at 74, with six conference games remaining.
Oliver was responsible for three assists while
Garcia dished out two. Cameron Brahmst drew a team
leading three ejections, Garcia had two.
Defensively Sean Inoue had a
pair of field blocks, Blair Bergsteinsson tallied
four steals while recording five blocks in front of the cage.
Adam Kantor added three steals.
Occidental improves to 11-13, 2-2 in SCIAC
play. The Tigers will be back in the pool on Saturday, Nov. 1 when
they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 11:00 a.m. in Taylor
Pool.
