CLAREMONT, Calif. (Nov. 5, 2009) – The first two times
that Occidental College and University of Redlands met on the
soccer field in 2009, the Bulldogs had the upper hand, winning
twice in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
action. Tonight, on neutral turf, the Tigers reversed the pair of
2-0 losses to the Bulldogs with a 2-0 semi-final win at the 2009
SCIAC Post Season Tournament.
With everything on the line, as the winner moves on and the
loser goes home, No. 3 Occidental opened up an early 1-0 lead when
sophomore defender Liz Martin lifted a corner kick
perfectly to junior Season Falkler-Rodriguez who
headered the ball past the No. 2 Redlands goalie for the ultimate
winning goal in just the fourth minute of play at Pritzlaff Field
on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Twenty-nine minutes later, in the 34th minute of
play, Occidental got a second goal when freshman Lei
Song tapped the ball into the net from six yards out after
the Bulldogs' keeper came out and lost possession of the ball
following a save. The black and orange maintained the shutout in
the final half despite 11 second half UR shots.
Overall the Bulldogs out-shot the Tigers 20-18 and the keepers
recorded eight and seven saves for Oxy and UR, respectively.
Tonight marks junior Robin Feldman's second
consecutive shutout, and fourth in the last five games. The Tigers
on a whole have held their opponents scoreless eight times.
Falkler-Rodriguez, Song and Elise Devereux each
took three shots in the game and Becca Verstraete
took two for the Tigers while Chelsey Hafley led the UR offensive
attack with six shots, four on goal. Fionna Connolly also had six
opportunities, but only one shot was on goal for the Bulldogs.
Occidental (10-6) will play No. 1 seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
who defeated No. 4 Cal Lutheran University, 2-0, in the second
semi-final game of the tournament tonight. Teams will meet back at
Pritzlaff Field on Saturday at noon to determine a conference
tournament champion and the SCIAC representative in the NCAA 2009
tournament.
