PASADENA, Calif. – Amid 90-degree temperatures and beneath clear skies, Caltech Men's Water polo hosted its second home match of SCIAC play Saturday morning against the Whittier College Poets, who received votes in the most recent Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Top 10 polling.

The young Beaver squad struck first and looked to take early control of the contest as sophomore Bram Schork opened up the scoring with Alexi Stapf's assist, after being denied by the Whittier goalie and then the post on his first two attempts. The Poets equalized with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter, but the teams remained tied 1-1 at the first intermission.

Caltech had the first possession in the second quarter as Stapf claimed his second consecutive sprint win, but Whittier had the period's first two goals about a minute apart for a 3-1 lead. Caltech quickly responded, with Stapf scoring just 16 seconds later and then assisting Schork's second goal to tie the game at 3-3. Whittier replied with another goal and held the Beavers off for the next couple of minutes until getting called for an exclusionary foul. Caltech called timeout and then Schork scored with the man advantage and first-year Justin Hong assisting to tie the game again at 4-4.

The Poets scored twice more before halftime, their sixth goal by virtue of a five-meter penalty shot with one second left. After the break and about two and a half minutes into the third quarter, Heramba Patil scored his second goal of the season to pull the Beavers back within one goal of the visitors.

Whittier then picked up speed with a six-goal run stretching into the fourth quarter before Shork broke their momentum with his fourth goal of the day on a long pass from goalkeeper Sujit Iyer. He tallied one more just over a minute later, and Stapf capped the Beavers' three-goal run with an unassisted goal inside three minutes to go.

"We played a good first half," Head Coach Jon Bonafede said. "I was happy with the adjustments we made for the fourth quarter. It was frustrating to be so close, but overall I am proud of how we compete and play as a team."

Bonafede and the Beavers will just have Sunday off before hosting the national third-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens at Braun Pool on Monday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. Find live video and stats at https://gocaltech.com/coverage.