Claremont, Calif. - In the much anticipated season and Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener, the Tigers had a difficult time interrupting the momentum of the defending SCIAC champions on the lacrosse field Wednesday falling 19-5 to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps .

Despite obtaining possession of the first draw of the game, draw control heavily favored the Athenas who were able to maintain control of 18 draws throughout the game.

After allowing two goals in the first two minutes, one of Occidental's returning leading scorers, Isabel Osgood-Roach, found familiarity by scoring the first of her two goals about six minutes into the game, on a rewarded free shot.

After Occidental got on the board, CMS was quick to respond with two more quick goals of their own.

On the following draw, Occidental freshman, Tori Larson, obtained possession and answered with a goal less than thirty seconds later.

CMS would then take the next 19 minutes to go on a 10-0 run.  Occidental would not let the half come to an end without getting another score on the board.  With less than a minute left, Osgood-Roach would notch her second goal of the night.

The Tigers carried that momentum over to the second half as sophomore Sarah Kessler would score thirty seconds into the second stanza after obtaining immediate possession off the draw.

With four minutes remaining in the game, Larson scored her second goal using both her speed and stick skills to go coast-to-coast and find the back of the net.

The Tigers were able to hold the Athenas to just five second half goals, showing a significant improvement on the defensive end of the field.  Occidental sophomore, Charlotte Bromley, had multiple caused turnovers, which helped disrupt the CMS momentum throughout the duration of the second half.

Pulling on the Black and Orange for the first time tonight were Larson, Abigail Williams, Alexandra Hennig, Maura Dauber, Rebecca Belding, Emily Fowler and Allie Dinielli.

Occidental (0-1, 0-1 SCIAC)  will be back on the road for another conference match as they travel to the University of Redlands on Saturday, Jan. 25 to face-off with the Bulldogs (1-0, 1-0 SCIAC) at 7:00 p.m.