LOS ANGELES, Calif. (April 24, 2010) – For three years three senior students came out to practice and play lacrosse for the Occidental College club team because they loved it. This year, those seniors teamed up with 15 other student-athletes to play on the inaugural varsity women's lacrosse team in the spring of 2010. Today, all the hard work paid off as on the final day of the regular season the Tigers earned their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory with a commanding 16-9 win on D.W. Patterson Field over the visiting Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens.
It didn't look that way at the beginning of the game, as neither team could take control, as it took almost nine minutes for Oxy to finally find the back of the net. As Sarah Kessler scored, on a free position shot, to break the defensive standoff and put the Tigers out in front.
The Sagehens answered right back, tying the game at one apiece, but now with about ten minutes gone both team seemed to hit their stride, as the defensive struggle was in for a serious challenge. As the Black and Orange responded with a score by Lauren Wemple, but the lead was short lived, as Pomona Pitzer churned out two more goals.
Down 3-2, Lucy Vallejo-Anderson went on a personal four goal run, giving the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. Shannon Docherty found enough daylight to add two more goals of her own, and the Tigers went into halftime up 9-4.
The Sagehens jumped on the board first when the new half began. The rally was stifled with a 6-0 run by the Black and Orange, as Docherty, Kessler and Wemple combined with Annie Wolfstone and Isabel Osgood-Roach to stretch the lead to 10 and eliminate any hopes of a Pomona Pitzer comeback cruising to a 16-9 victory.
Also worth noting is that the Tigers played their best game of the season, in front of the biggest home crowd of the year, which also included two of the most influential people in helping the program progress, as both Mr. and Mrs. Miller were in the stands to watch Oxy take home its first SCIAC win in school history.
The teams will meet again on Wednesday, April 28 when Occidental (2-12, 1-7 SCIAC) travel to Pomona-Pitzer (5-11, 2-6) for the SCIAC Tournament first round play-in game. First draw is set for 7:00 p.m.
