PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech men's soccer team earned a massive victory on Saturday as the Beavers topped the Whittier College Poets by a score of 4-1. With the victory, Caltech improves to 4-1-2 at home.

After drawing Chapman 2-2 their last time on the pitch, the Beavers entered the weekend hungry for a win with only a few games to go this season.

The squad immediately went to work as junior forward Andy Dimnaku fired off a shot on goal in the first five minutes of action, though the Whittier goalkeeper collected the save.

Caltech continued to put pressure on the Poet defense before they ultimately took possession and put in the first goal of the day in the 22nd minute. Sophomore midfielder Etienne Casanova made an incredible play on the left wing as he sprinted towards a defender on the Whittier backline; the opponent tried to pass the ball to a teammate before Casanova intercepted it and surged towards the net, dribbling it right up to the goalie box before putting it to the left of the Whittier keeper.

The team would log another shot a few minutes later before going up 2-0 in the 35th minute. After getting fed the ball from junior defender Andrew Chiang, sophomore forward Jack Myles took advantage of the three defenders who had surrounded him. The second-year turned and hit sophomore forward Ishaan Mantripragada, who took the ball from outside the right corner of the box into the middle of the penalty area before slipping a shot past the goalkeeper and into the net.

The standout registered another strong shot later in the half, though it was saved.

The group entered the halftime break with a solid 2-0 lead, though they were far from finished scoring. With just over 31 minutes to play, Chiang sent a strong curving pass from deep outside the box intended for a Caltech striker; the pass forced the Whittier defense to get involved as the ball headed towards the goalie box before a Poet defender sent it into their own net.

The Beavers continued to play hard with a 3-0 lead, though the visitors would score a penalty kick goal in the 70th minute of action to put a score on the board.

The contest did not remain a two-score game for much longer as Caltech quickly pushed the pace after getting the ball in their own backfield. A sprinting Mantripragada took the ball from Caltech's own side all the way to the opposing box, swerving the defense and putting the ball between a defender's legs in the process. The striker got fouled in the box before he could get a shot off, resulting in a penalty kick. The star connected for his second goal of the game and fourth in two games as he put the ball in the lower right corner.

The Caltech defense would limit Whittier from posting another score; an incredible leaping save from senior goalkeeper Julio Arroyo in the final minute prevented a second goal and electrified the Beaver bench.

With the result, the Beavers pick up their sixth win of the season with three games remaining. Senior goalkeeper Derek Ing moves to 3-1-1 on the season.

Caltech registered 10 shots in the contest with seven coming on goal. The Beaver defense limited the Poets to just four shots on goal.

At the time of this writing, Mantripragada's ten goals puts him tied for the most goals scored by a player in the conference this season. The second-year shares the accomplishment with Casanova and one other player.

Head coach Duncan Gillis expressed his pleasure with how the team performed in the ever-important SCIAC matchup.

"Very happy for the boys and proud of them today," said Gillis. "Coach [Rockne DeCoster] and I are not just proud of the effort on the field today, but the fact that the boys earned this win with the hard work they've been putting in during training," he said.

"This group is hungry to keep pushing the program forward, so we will look to build on today's win and keep going."

The team will now prepare for a rematch against the Chapman University Panthers this Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. in Orange. The two teams drew 4-4 in their first clash this past week. Follow the game online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

Follow Caltech Men's Soccer on Instagram and Caltech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.