LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2010) – Although the teams were force to meet on the field turf at Patterson Field as opposed to the wet and muddy natural grass on the Lower Soccer Field today, the Occidental College Tigers were not phased as they handed the California Lutheran University Regals their first loss of the season with a 1-0 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory, propelling the Black and Orange to sole possession of first place in the standings.

Both the Tigers and Regals entered the afternoon with 4-0-1 SCIAC records and while CLU was undefeated in 2010 at 10-0-1, Oxy was riding a six game winless streak with an overall 6-1-1 mark. Today the home team prevailed in cool, cloudy conditions as they now sit in the drivers seat at the end of the first round of league play.

Occidental struck in the 39^th minute when freshman Elissa Minamishin scored after a cross in front of the goal allowed Georgia Wetmore to punch the ball in her direction. CLU goalie Kristin Borzi got her fingertips on the ball, but it found its way to the back of the net, giving the Black and Orange a 1-0 lead.

A battle ensued in the second half of action, but Oxy was able to keep CLU off the board again over the final 45 minutes.

Senior goalie Robin Feldman came up big time and time again as she recorded eight saves. No two bigger blocks came when she posted back-to-back diving stops with just seven and five minutes to play in regulation, respectively. On the first one, Feldman positioned her teammates who created a wall just right as the Tigers blocked the CLU attempt. When the ricochet deflected to a Regals player who quickly shot, Feldman made a diving stop at the left corner of the cage.

Every more incredible was the one-handed stop she made with just over five minutes to go. Senior Season Falkler-Rodriguez and junior Liz Martin each cleared the ball out of the box in the final minutes to keep the CLU threat to a minimum. Andrea Loh and Bree Geary also manned the back field for the Tigers today.

Cal Lutheran (10-1-1, 4-1-1 SCIAC) outshot Oxy 13-11 and controlled most of the second half, in which they fired off six shots, although the Tigers managed to take just two. Alex Nicholson led the attacking effort with five shots, three on goal and Kellee Murayama took three shots. Each team earned a pair of corner kicks in the game.

The 1-0 deficit for the Regals at the halfway point was the first time in 2010 that they saw themselves trailing at the intermission.

With the win, Oxy stretches their unbeaten streak to seven.

Occidental (7-1-1, 5-0-1 SCIAC) will be back out on Patterson Field on Saturday, Oct. 9, as part of a double-header with the men's team. After the men host Caltech, the women play UC Santa Cruz, in non-conference action, at 4:00 p.m. Both events will be broadcast via a live video stream and live stats.