PASADENA, Calif. — Caltech Men's Water Polo contested Whittier College in a home match on Saturday morning highlighted by a big performance from graduate student utility Andrés Heredia (San Diego / Francis Parker).

Heredia in his first season as a Beaver put together an impressive performance with a team-leading three goals and game-leading five drawn exclusions to keep the team in the fight for much of the contest. He had a quiet first half on offense before scoring two goals in the third quarter and another in the fourth quarter.

The Beavers won the opening sprint but it was the Poets who put through the first goal of the game in their first possession. Caltech was quick to answer, however, finding the equalizer just over a minute later with a score by first-year utility Carl Crum (San Carlos, Calif. / Sacred Heart Preparatory) who went on to finish with an assist along with the goal.

The defense stepped up in the second quarter by narrowing shooting lanes and applying pressure on the Poets' offense, making things easier for junior goalkeeper Sujit Iyer (Marietta, Ga. / Wheeler). The junior only allowed one goal in the second quarter as part of his four-save day helping to keep Caltech in the match. He added some offensive juice as well, delivering two assists.

After struggling to make much happen offensively in the first half, the Beavers had their best quarter in the third putting up three scores. It started with a pair of goals by Heredia, the first coming with just over seven minutes left in the quarter followed by another with three minutes remaining. Finishing off the three-goal quarter, first-year attacker Maxwell Woodruff Vale (Austin, Texas / Liberal Arts and Science Academy) found the back of the net.

The Beavers scored twice more in the final quarter with one from Heredia and in the final minutes a score from sophomore attacker Justin Hong (Pasadena, Calif. / Pasadena).

Caltech won the exclusion battle, forcing 13; the team finished the match with 25 shots and 11 steals. The Beavers won three of the four sprints.

Heredia's five drawn exclusions were a career high.

The team along with head coach Jon Bonafede and assistant coaches Rayne Lopez, Rahul Arun and Andrew Graven will now focus on the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs from the University of Redlands in an interconference road clash this Wednesday Nov. 6 at 7:00 pm. Follow along online at GoCaltech.com/coverage.