CLAREMONT, Calif.—The Occidental College women's soccer team put their playoff hopes into the hands of their competitors from this point forward, losing to Pomona-Pitzer 1-0, with 25 seconds left in the first overtime period of their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match Saturday.

In a game where the Tigers (5-8, 5-5) were outshot 18 to eight, they still remained within striking distance of the second place Sagehens (9-4-1, 6-3-1), and maintaining a firm hold on the conference's final playoff spot, until the end of regulation. 

Once the whistle sounded to begin play in overtime, Oxy appeared to lose any offensive momentum they accrued in the first two periods. The Tigers were outshot five to zero in the extra period.

Claire Mueller scored off an assist from Dana Christensen in the 99^th minute, dropping Occidental into a tie for fourth place with Redlands (8-5-1, 5-5).

Occidental goalkeeper Taylor Renshaw (Phoenix, AZ) had eight saves for the Tigers, including a diving finger-tip save on Allie Tao's shot in the 93^rd minute, but ultimately the Sagehens' attack was too much.

"Pomona-Pitzer ended up having more attack efforts than we did today," Occidental coach Colm McFeeley said. "They had a couple really good opportunities. But I think both teams were a pretty even match today." 

Oxy's best scoring opportunity of the game came in the last minute of the first half as Liz Martin (Fremont, CA) beat the Sagehen defense and had a shot that went just wide left.

"We strung together a really good six pass movement that got Liz behind the defense," Occidental coach Colm McFeeley said. "She placed the ball with good composure, but it missed the goal by just inches."

Elissa Minamishin (Waipahu, HI) led Oxy with two shots. Kellee Murayama (Wahiawa, HI), Maddy Rasch (Seattle, WA), and Whitney Roline (Eugene, OR) led the rest of the starters with one shot apiece.

Despite Saturday's loss, the SCIAC postseason tournament is still within the Tigers' reach.

"We still hold in our own hands the possibility of finishing our season in a conference tournament game," said McFeeley. "That is the most encouraging thing to take away."

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (6-5-3, 6-3-1) and La Verne (2-10-3, 1-9) are the remaining opponents for Redlands. Oxy faces Whittier (1-13, 1-8) and conference leader Cal Lutheran (16-1, 9-0). The Tigers need to win out and have Redlands lose at least one of their games.

If both schools split next week, the final conference playoff spot would be decided by their head to head record, which Oxy holds the advantage in after beating Redlands twice this season.

Occidental plays at Whittier College on Oct. 26 and then at home against Cal Lutheran on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.

"The heart, desire, and effort were there," McFeeley said. "We didn't win as much of the possession battle as we would have liked, but we gave it a good run. It just didn't happen for us today."