Late Surge for Men's Soccer Sinks Cal Lutheran

Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Sept. 22, 2021) – For the second game in a row, two second-half goals sealed the deal for the Whittier College men's soccer team, this time against California Lutheran University at Memorial Stadium.

The Poets came into Wednesday's game with the

Kingsmen holding a similar record to their SCIAC foes, however, showed themselves to be the better team on this particular day in a variety of ways. Both teams saw a fair share of early chances, but junior goalkeeper Teddy Nickerson (Seattle, Wash. / O'Dea), along with his Kingsmen counterpart did well to thwart any early prime opportunities. Clutch defensive play did not, however, prevent the Purple & Gold from levying some heavy early pressure on the visitors. Whittier fired off 13 first-half shots with several nearly finding a way to the net. Sophomore midfielder Tommy Yarbrough (Encinitas, Calif. / La Costa Canyon) fired off three shots over this time but did perhaps just as well with setting up classmate Nainoa Loschky (Bellevue, Wash. / Interlake) in the middle of the field for six shots over the first 45 minutes. The success the home team saw in creating offensive opportunities yielded a limited amount of changes between halves, but also a motivational message from Head Coach Shea Harwell.

"We were focused on applying a few tactical changes, but mostly we wanted to encourage the boys to work together more and take advantage of the chances we create," Harwell said. "We wanted to help motivate them and direct them to the right path, but they had to walk it together."

Whittier went on to employ similar second-half tactics and eventually netted the game-winner, though it did not come without a little adversity. Minor injuries to Yarbrough and Loschky had both players taken off mid-way through the half to receive treatment, but both players returned before the conclusion of the game to have a serious impact on the outcome. With a little more than 10 minutes to play in regulation, Yarbrough worked over the defense on the left side of the field before finding junior midfielder Grant Rutledge (Brea, Calif. University of Pacific) with an open outlet to fire a high ball into freshman forward Lawrence Dydell (Redmond, Wash. Woodinville), who hammered home the goal to give Whittier the first and only lead of the game.

The Poets were not done. The Kingsmen defense let up just enough for junior forward Banks Telkamp (Seattle, Wash. / O'Dea) to win the ball on a counter-attack and use his speed to get the opposing keeper to bite before scoring a routine insurance goal in the 88th minute. With the game firmly out of reach, the Poets picked up their second SCIAC victory of the season and are up to six points in the conference standings. The 4-1 start is also the team's fastest start to a season in more than 15 years. 

"No team is perfect but this team has a lot of talent and a lot of character," Harwell said. "If we can bring both of those together every day, we'll continue to be a very difficult team to beat. We plan to do just that and are really enjoying this first season back."

Harwell and the Poets will have the week off before traveling to SCIAC leader Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (5-1-1, 3-0 SCIAC) on Wednesday, Sept. 29.