REDLANDS, Calif. – In their home opener the University of Redlands Women's Water Polo team (1-13, 0-2 SCIAC) found themselves trailing throughout against Whittier College as they were unable to complete their comeback attempts in a 14-10 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) loss Saturday night at the Thompson Aquatic Center (TAC).

The Poets got off to a 4-1 start with the Bulldogs' lone goal coming with Kennedy Mobley (Wildomar, CA) finding Lucia Notaro (Thousand Oaks, CA) for the first goal of the Tamara Perea TAC era.

With 4:24 to play in the first the Bulldogs drew a five-meter penalty, which Emma Parker (Yucaipa, CA) slotted home. Less than a minute later Mobley again found Notaro, this time on a powerplay, as the lead was only two, 5-3.

Christine Chua's (Arcadia, CA) goal with 5:39 remaining in the half kept the Bulldogs within two, but the Poets ended the final four minutes of the half with three unanswered tallies as the deficit grew to five, 9-4, at the half.

The big comeback attempt came in the third quarter when Redlands scored five of seven goals and again made it a two goal game, 11-9, with 3:16 still to play in the third. Three of the goals came from Chua, the first off an assist from Kaile Itow (Morgan Hill, CA) on the transition opportunity. The other goals were the second for Parker and the first for Anika Lundbaek (San Anselmo, CA).

Down the stretch Whittier scored three times without a Redlands response as they went scoreless for ten minutes before a late Chua goal with 1:11 to play.

Chua continued her hot play with five goals. Parker added two, an assist, two drawn exclusions, and a game-high three steals. Notaro led the way defensively with three drawn exclusions and added two goals and two assists on the other end.

Redlands has a week off before traveling to Claremont to take on No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 15.