ORANGE, Calif. – Sophomore F Marco Saglimbeni led the Chapman University men's soccer team with a hat trick on Saturday to defeat Whittier College 3-1 at Wilson Field. This was the Panthers' (7-5-1 overall, 7-4-1 SCIAC) second victory over the Poets (6-6-2 overall, 4-6-2 SCIAC) this season allowing them to keep sole possession of third place in conference standings.

Saglimbeni scored his fifth game-winner of the season in the 40th minute of the game to extend the Panthers lead 2-1 over the Poets. Saglimbeni's second goal was the result of a shot by sophomore M Daniel Friedman that hit the cross bar and rebounded.

The sophomore scored the first goal of the game at the 10 minute mark off an assist from sophomore M Daniel Malikyar to put Chapman in the lead 1-0. Saglimbeni has scored five of the Panthers six goals against Whittier this season.

Whittier tied the game 1-1 in the 25th minute when junior F Dylan Fortin scored off an assist by junior F Denzel Hartshorn but that would be the only goal the Panther defense would allow.

Saglimbeni extended the Panthers lead 3-1 over the Poets off an assist from sophomore F Jake Sarmiento with five minutes left in the second half. Saglimbeni now leads the Panthers with 11 goals and 22 points.

This was the Panthers' second hat trick of the season following junior M Boston Kimmel three-goal performance in a 6-4 loss against Occidental College in September.

Chapman is now 3-1-1 in its past five SCIAC matches and is 4-1-1 at home this season. The third-place Panthers will host first-place Pomona-Pitzer (10-2-1 overall, 8-1-1 SCIAC) at Wilson Field on Monday at 7 p.m.

by Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/boxscores/20141018_ie9u.xml

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