THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (May 3, 2009) – Three days after
heading off to the Collegiate III National Championships hosted by
Cal Lutheran University, the Occidental College water polo season
ended in a 5-4 loss to UC Santa Cruz, placing them fourth in the
eight-team field. Senior goalie Laura Simanonok
capped off her collegiate career with First Team All-Tournament
recognition along with sophomore Julie Monday
while freshman Tessa Bailey-Findley walked away
with Second Team honors.
After earning a pair of victories on opening
day, the Tigers fell in three consecutive games to close out the
weekend. Oxy played all weekend down a pair of players due to
injury and illness.
In an early Friday morning match the Tigers cruised past Grove
City College 11-5 as they jumped out to an early 6-0 first quarter
lead and never looked back. Bailey-Findley led the pack with a
four-goal performance while Nickle added a hat-trick of her own.
On Friday afternoon Oxy again sailed to a victory, this time
against Macalester College in a 15-7 win. Bailey-Findley again had
a fantastic offensive outburst, with five goals, as Nickle added
four scores.
The final “Pool Round” game was against an opponent
Oxy had not seen in the water yet during the 2009 season. The
Banana Slugs and Tigers battled through the game and when it looked
as if hope had been lost with 23 seconds to play in regulation,
trailing by a goal, Oxy pulled out all the stops.
When the whistle blew following a timeout the UCSC goalie out of
the area of the cage and Bailey-Findley toughly defending her. The
sophomore Tiger wasted no time in stealing the red, white and blue
ball, shooting on an unguarded net to tie the game at 6-6, with her
third goal of the game, with 18 seconds to play,
sending the contest into overtime.
The Banana Slugs found the back of the net quickly in the first
overtime and the Tigers could not manage to do the same as the game
ended in a 7-6 OT loss. UCSC took advantage of a very unusual 21
Oxy turnovers.
The 2-1 finish in Pool Play pitted the Tigers against SCIAC
rival, Pomona-Pitzer in the afternoon semi-final game. The Sagehens
jumped out to a 2-1 lead and opened a 4-1 advantage at the
intermission, proving to be too much of a deficit for the Tigers to
overcome.
As she did all weekend, Bailey-Findley finished with a team-high
three goals followed by a pair from Rebecca Hofer.
Falling short to PP put the Tigers in the third place game while
the Sagehens moved on to face and defeat the University of Redlands
in the Championship game.
On Sunday morning the Tigers again traveled to Thousand Oaks to
finish off the 2009 season. The rematch of Saturday's first
game unfortunately, for the Tigers, ended in similar fashion, with
the Banana Slugs outscoring the Tigers by one.
Monday finished the game with a pair of goals and Nickle added
one while senior Ashley Notti rounded out the
offense in her final collegiate game.
Overall this weekend Laura Simanonok recorded
21 blocks in four games as she completes her senior season. Also
appearing in black and orange for the final time was Haley
Rosehill.
Occidental finishes the season with an 18-14 record.
