LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 18, 2009) – After a scoreless opening quarter, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-2 lead at the intermission before holding off Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a 6-5 victory on senior day at Taylor Pool this afternoon in the final Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first round game.

Early in the second period sophomore Julie Monday used a behind the back shot to get Occidental on the board. Senior Kelly Curtain then scored to put the Tigers up by a pair. A little over a minute later Karie Nickle netted the first of two goals in the quarter to build the Tigers a 3-0 advantage.

Just after the mid-way point of the second quarter CMS got on the board, but Oxy responded on their next possession when senior Ashley Notti scored from six meters out to again double the Tigers' lead at 4-2. Nickle added the final score of the first half with 45 seconds to play.

Teams then exchanged goals in the third quarter, with Monday providing her second score of the game, which ultimately was the winning goal.

In the final eight-minute period the Athenas inched closer with a goal at the 5:46 mark, but neither team would produce any more offense for the remainder of regulation.

In addition to her two goals, Monday added a pair of assists. Curtain added five drawn ejections for Oxy.

Defensively Curtain and freshman Tessa Bailey-Findley stole the ball three times apiece and Nickle provided three field blocks. Senior goal keeper Laura Simanonok recorded seven saves.

Also appearing for the final time at home in black and orange was Haley Rosehill. All four seniors were members of the Tigers for four season and have made significant contributions to the success of the Occidental College women's water polo program.

With the win Occidental improves to 14-10 with a 5-2 SCIAC mark, giving them a No. 3 seed entering the SCIAC Championship Tournament, which will be held Friday-Sunday, April 24-26 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The No. 1 seed will be Cal Lutheran (16-12) who enters the weekend with a 7-0 SCIAC mark followed by Pomona-Pitzer (19-8) with a 6-1 conference record. Behind Oxy is Redlands (12-16, 4-3), CMS (8-13, 3-4), Whittier (8-16, 2-5), La Verne (2-21, 1-6) and Caltech (0-13, 0-7).