LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Nov. 7, 2009) – After a tough road loss to the University of Redlands on Wednesday afternoon, the Tigers returned home to Occidental College where they faced off with the  Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference leading Whittier College Poets. Oxy fell 19-11 on the road to the Bulldogs and came up short 14-8 against WC this morning.

Redlands jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead on Occidental and added to the edge, taking a 10-4 half-time lead. The tenacious Tigers wouldn't go away, though. The Black and Orange muscled five goals in the third quarter, but UR added six of their own. A low scoring fourth period on both sides sealed the win for the Bulldogs.

Three different players, Joe Reynolds, Austen Oliver and Brendan Whitmore, scored three goals apiece with Reynolds and Greg Benz added two assists each.

The Tigers managed just one steal, from Benz, and Max Kelly blocked 10 UR shots.

On Saturday in the final home game of the season, Oxy opened a 4-2 lead, but the conference leading Poets hung tough, taking a 7-5 lead at the intermission. WC went on to outscore Oxy 4-2 in the third quarter and 3-1 in the final frame.

Oliver again led the offensive attach with a hat-trick, drawing four ejections, chipping in two assists. Tai McDermott also dished out a pair of assists and Whitmore scored two goals of his own. Kelly made 15 saves, blocking more shots than goals allowed in the game.

Whittier earned an undefeated SCIAC season at 7-0 and enters the SCIAC Tournament as the No. 1 seeded team. Occidental finished as the No. 6 seed with a conference record of 2-5.

In the first round of the SCIAC Tournament Occidental will play No. 3 Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, Nov. 13 at 2:30 p.m. at Axelrod Pool.