Season Review: Poets move forward with young team

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Whittier College women's water polo team improved by three games from its 2008 season as the 2009 Poets finished with nine wins, a sixth place finish in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and placed two student-athletes on the all-conference team.

"I thought the girls played very well," said first year head coach Justin Pudwill. "We competed in every game and we only had nine girls on the roster. We never had a chance to scrimmage in practice and to see what we were able to do with limited practice was outstanding."

Whittier was led by sophomore attacker Xenia Castillo who earned a spot on the all-conference second-team. Castillo ranked third on the team with 33 goals and 20 assists and led the team with 60 steals. She finished the year with a 31 percent shooting percentage.

Castillo's year was highlighted by the 98 drawn ejections she drew. That mark is a new school record for drawn ejections in a single season. She broke the previous record of 75 which was set in 2006 by Kim Charlson.

For her career she has 145 total drawn ejections which ranks second all-time in Whittier history. Charlson holds the record which is 229 in her four-year career. Charlson played from 2003-06.

"Xenia had one of the most amazing seasons a collegiate player can have," said Pudwill. "Not only was she great at drawing ejections but she was one of our best defenders and matched up on the other team's best players throughout the season. She is one of the best players at this level."

Freshman Katrina Thoreson earned an honorable mention selection to the all-conference team from her utility position. She led the team with 64 goals and added 17 assists. Her 64 scores is the fifth most all-time in school history.

Thoreson finished second on the team with 31 drawn ejections and second on the team with 58 steals.

As a team the Poets finished with six players who recorded 20 or more goals as junior Sarah Peel, freshman Melissa Reynoso, freshman Arianna Weisenburger and sophomore Veronica Becerra tallied 43, 24, 21 and 20 goals each, respectively.

As a group the team scored 217 goals and averaged over eights goals per game. Over 66 percent of the goals scored came by way of an assist as the purple and gold totaled 145 for the season. Weisenburger led the way with 33 assists which ranks No. 5 all-time in WC history. Becerra ranked second on the team with 32 assists.

Freshman goalie Anahisa Aguirre made her mark in the WC record books as her 323 saves is the second most in a single season. Sara Kisselbach holds the record for saves in a season with 346. In just one year Aguirre already ranks fourth all-time in saves for a career.

Aguirre also added 11 assists from her goalie position and recorded 48 steals.

"Anahisa has great fundamentals and mechanics," said Pudwill. "She adjusted to the speed of the college game very well and all around was solid in the cage."

The Poets' record of 9-18 might not look too successful but the schedule featured six Division I programs, one Division II school and a pair of NAIA opponents.

Whittier faced Division I programs such as George Washington, Princeton, Loyola Marymount, Brown, Hartwick and Siena. The Poets went 0-6 against its Division I foes but fell by only three goals to Siena, 9-6, and two goals to GWU, 10-8.

The Poets also faced Division II Cal State San Bernardino twice and lost both games by three goals, 9-6 and 15-12.

"I enjoy playing teams that will challenge us in our nonconference schedule," said Pudwill. "The games against the scholarship programs prepare us a lot better for SCIAC play. Our goal is to competed with these programs and we were able to do that in a lot of games this year."

WC earned its first win of the season at the Chapman University Tournament in a 14-7 win over host Chapman University. The Poets won its second game of the day against SCIAC opponent La Verne, 15-5, in a nonconference game. WC won its next three games over Macalester, NAIA Fresno Pacific and Carthage for its season-long five game win streak.

The purple and gold entered conference play after it took part in the Roadrunner Invitational II against four scholarship programs. WC dropped its first three SCIAC games but earned its first SCIAC win by a count of 15-7 over La Verne.

The Poets dropped its next game to Redlands, 14-12, before they wrapped up their regular season with a modest 5-1 win over Caltech.

WC entered the SCIAC postseason tournament as the No. 6 seed and finished the conference tournament in sixth place. The Poets led for most of the first half in their game against No. 3 Occidental but the depth of the Tigers took control in the second half en route to the 7-3 win.

The Poets won its next game over La Verne, 10-2, and lost in the fifth place game to tournament host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 10-5.

"We didn't have any expectations going into the year," said Pudwill. "But as the season went on the girls could see how close we were to the top tier of the SCIAC. We might not have won as many games as we would have liked but it was a good season."

Game of the Year
SCIAC Postseason Tournament ∙ April 25
Whittier 10, La Verne 2
The Poets entered the SCIAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and lost in the first round game to No. 3 Occidental. WC had beaten La Verne twice in the regular, 15-5 at the Chapman Tournament and 15-7 in conference play, and a third win over the Leopards would guarantee Whittier no worse than a sixth place finish in the conference.

WC dominated the game as it jumped out to a 7-0 halftime time. Xenia Castillo, Arianna Weisenburger and Katrina Thoreson gave the Poets a 3-0 first quarter lead and the combination of Sarah Peel and Thoreson combined for four second quarter goals for WC.

Peel tallied two man-up goals in the second quarter as she scored consecutive goals at the 6:38 mark and 5:29 mark.

Indre Lauraitis scored two second half goals and Peel added her game-high fourth score early in the fourth quarter.

Goalie Anahisa Aguirre made 18 saves in the game which includes six in 5/6 situations.

The Poets advanced to the fifth place game in the conference tournament with its win over La Verne but fell to CMS, 10-5.

Outlook to Next Year
The Poets will not have to replace a single player from the 2009 roster. Whittier will welcome back its entire team and look to add depth as it makes its move up the ranks of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

"We have a tough schedule next year but getting a year experience in all the returners and adding depth will help us in our run next season," said Pudwill.