Poets fall short in final hour

dymanic, Issue 6, Tyler Butler, Tyler Zickel, Sports - By Tyler Zickel on Thursday, October 14, 2010 - 02:33

The men’s soccer team lost for the third consecutive time Wednesday, Oct. 13, losing to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 2-1 in two overtimes. The Stags got the scoring started, putting the ball in the back of the Poet net with 25 minutes left in the first half. Thunderstix distributed by the Poet Pit wrote the soundtrack for the game, and the Poets responded to the crowd’s enthusiasm. Whittier assaulted the CMS net, sending shot after shot toward the Stag goal, but to no avail. The physical nature of the first period came to a boil at halftime, when an on-field scuffle emptied both benches. A yellow card was shown to first-year Francis Maxwell for his role in the dispute. In the second half, Whittier controlled the tempo, forcing the Stags to play defense for most of the period. As the game was drawing to a close, the Poets drove down the field yet again. Junior forward Jonathan Palomino broke free from the CMS defense, and his subsequent shot found the back of the goal, tying the game at 1-1 with 2:46 to go in regulation. Palomino’s goal would be the last the Poets scored, as CMS won the game with a header in the second period of overtime.

“The score of the game doesn’t reflect our play,” senior defender Brendan McWalters said. “We played them off the pitch, we just couldn’t find the goal. I’m proud of the effort we put in.”

The men’s soccer team also lost on Saturday Oct. 9, falling to the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens 1-0. A first half goal by Pomona’s Danny Nasra made the difference, despite Whittier’s 13 shots on
goal.

With the losses, Whittier fell to 4-3-1 in the conference (6-5-1 overall), and extended their losing streak to three games. Opponents have outscored the Poets 6-1 in that span. The team takes the field again on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. as they face the Jaguars of the University of La Verne.