CLAREMONT, Calif. (May 1, 2010) – Down to the wire, the Occidental College Tigers and host Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens battled it out in Haldeman Pool at the 2010 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships. Although the Black and Orange jumped out to a 8-6 lead at the intermission, the teams needed overtime to settle a winner and the Sagehens got the upper hand in the final 14 seconds to steal an 11-10 victory over Oxy to clinch the SCIAC crown. Occidental will advance to the Collegiate III Tournament hosted by Carthage College on May 7-8.
While the teams battled in the pool, the fans from both Oxy and PP battled it out on the deck with chants and cheers throughout the course of the contest.
Occidental looked to junior Julie Monday for more than half of their offense in the title game as she scored a game-high six goals while drawing three ejections. Nanea Fujiyama was the only other Tiger with multiple goals in the game, scoring two.
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-2 lead after the first period in which four different players scored. In the second stanza, Monday took over, netting three goals, the latter giving the Tigers a 7-3 lead before Tessa Bailey-Findley pushed that lead to 8-4. PP quickly reeled off back-to-back goals over the final 1:18 to cut the Oxy advantage to two.
The Sagehens came out firing to start the third quarter with four unanswered goals, turning their two goal deficit into a 10-8 lead in their home pool entering the final period of play.
Occidental then returned the favor, shutting down the Sagehens' offense in the fourth, scoring twice to knot the game at 10-10 as time expired in regulation.
Both the players and spectators stepped up their respective games as the teams moved on to overtime.
In the first three minute period neither team added to their score as both defensive units stepped up. Overall in the game Karie Nickle led the defense with five steals to go along with two field blocks. Fujiyama added a field block and a steal as well. Freshman goalie Rachel Adeleye came away with four steals and seven saves in front of the cage.
The second overtime saw the teams exchange goals, with Monday scoring at the 2:35 mark and PP answering with one of their own just over a minute later. Just as it looked like the teams would play to a sudden death, Sagehens' junior Tamara Perea scored her fifth goal of the game to put the Blue and Orange up 12-11 with 14 seconds to go. Unable to convert the final possession into a scoring opportunity, the Tigers run at a SCIAC title expired as the buzzer sounded.
Pomona-Pitzer (18-14, 9-1 SCIAC) secured its third SCIAC Championship in the past four seasons.
On day two of the SCIAC Tournament Occidental defeated Cal Lutheran University 6-5 in a low-scoring affair. Monday again led the offensive attack with a pair of goals. Nickle handed out three assists and Bailey-Findley drew three ejections.
Adeleye and Nickle each came away with five steals and the Oxy defense prevented five of eight 5-on-6 scoring chances for the Regals. Adeleye blocked three shots.
To open the weekend the Tigers tore past the University of La Verne, outscoring the Leopards 20-6 on Friday afternoon. Eight different players found the back of the net for Oxy, including a five-goal performance from Monday followed by four-goal games from both Nickle and Fujiyama. Bailey-Findlay and Rebecca Hofer scored twice apiece while adding four and one assists, respectively.
Occidental got 21 steals in the game, led by Adeleye who tallied six steals, adding two saves in the game. Bailey-Findley and Monday each grabbed three steals and Fujiyama, Nickle and Izzy Mayer had two apiece.
Cal Lutheran (16-12, 8-2), will join Occidental (14-15, 8-2) at the Collegiate III Championships in Kenosha, Wisc. next weekend while PP travels to San Diego for the NCAA Division I Championships the following weekend.
Article by: Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
