Men's Soccer Drops a Pair in Colorado

The Whittier College men's soccer team traveled to Colorado College for two games in three days last weekend.  The Poets lost their first contest 3-2 to Willamette University on September 7, and then lost 9-1 to Colorado College on September 9.

Against Willamette, the Poets fell behind early, conceding three goals in the first half.  Willamette's Casey Dineen opened the scoring in the 16th minute.  Greg Beasley tallied their second goal in the 31st minute after collecting a rebound from a shot that hit the cross bar.  In the 40th minute, Dineen scored his second of the day, this time using his head to redirect a corner kick into the back of the net to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead at halftime.

The Poets answered back in the second half when Rhye-Samuel Kanassatega beat the goalie on a free kick in the 61st minute to cut the deficit to two.  Eddie Baker pulled the Poets to within one goal just three minutes later, as he chipped the ball over the keeper and into the goal.  That was as close as Whittier would get, however, despite out shooting Willamette 7-1 in the second half.  The Poets held a 13-12 edge in shots for the game. 

The game against Colorado College was a physical battle throughout.  The teams combined for 39 fouls, five yellow cards and one red.  Colorado started the scoring in the 8th minute, when Matt Samson beat Poets goalie, Paul Stepler-Camp, with a header off of a Pat Fagan cross.  Fagan had two assists for the Tigers.  They continued the scoring in the 12th minute, as Logan Boccard scored a pair of goals in a thirty second span.  The Poets broke through to make the score 3-1 in the 23rd minute on a Daniel Covarrubias goal that came on a corner kick by Kanassatega.  The Tigers added goals in the 31st and 45th minutes to take a 5-1 lead at halftime.

Colorado continued their dominance in the second half, beginning with a goal off a corner kick by Wil Nelp in the 59th minute.  They would add goals in the 61st, 76th and 82nd minutes en route to the 9-1 victory.  The Poets were unable to mount much of an offensive attack in the second half, only taking one shot in the final stanza.  The Tigers peppered the Whittier cage with 36 shots in the game.  Stepler-Camp made 12 saves in goal for the Poets.

The Poets are in action again on September 12, as they open their conference schedule on the road against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.  The game is scheduled to begin at 4pm.