WHITTIER, Calif. – The University of Redlands men's water polo team (8-10, 4-1 SCIAC) overcame an early 3-1 deficit to take down Whittier College, 13-10, Wednesday evening on the road as they extended their winning streak to four games.
Following an Adam Lambert (St. Louis, MO) goal, Jake Simpson (El Cajon, CA) scored on a powerplay with 3:24 on the clock in the first quarter as he sparked a 3-0 Bulldog run. The other two goals came from Ossie Joplin (Kentfield, CA) and Oliver Finley (Cape Town, South Africa) on a penalty.
Whittier ended the run with 1:39 remaining in the opening quarter, but Nick Davidson (Honolulu, HI) scored the final goal of the first as Redlands took a 5-4 lead into the second period.
In the second, Finley began the scoring off before the two sides traded goals down inside two minutes to play in the half.
Finley and Zach Dortch (Alameda, CA) scored the two Bulldogs goals in the back-and-forth with Camilo Solis (Camarillo, CA) tallying his first with only :35 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a three-goal advantage at the break, 9-6.
After 15 total goals in the first 16 minutes, the two sides combined for only eight in the second half. The first was by the Poets before Matthew Wheeler (Visalia, CA) and Tanner Stagner (Laguna Niguel, CA) scored to push the lead to four, 11-7.
The Poets ended their scoring drought of more than five minutes with the final goal of the third and then made it back-to-back tallies with the first of the fourth as the Bulldogs were only in front by two, 11-9.
The Redlands defense, though, steadied the ship with a three-minute scoreless run, while Simpson and Christian Newberry (Huntington Beach, CA) beat the Whittier keeper to make it 13-9 U of R with only 4:14 to play.
Whittier got their 10th goal with just over three minutes to play, but that would be the final goal of the game as the Bulldogs took the win.
Finley had a hat trick before fouling out with three exclusions. Septime De Bonnafos (Marseille, France) made 13 saves on 23 shots on goal, playing all 32:00 minutes.
Redlands returns home to the Thompson Aquatic Center (TAC) this Saturday, October 17 when they host the California Institute of Technology at 11:00 a.m.
