LA VERNE, Calif. – After leading by a goal at the break, the Occidental College Tigers used a second-half surge to defeat the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 7-5, in one of two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semi final games at the 2011 women's water polo Tournament hosted by the University of La Verne at Las Flores Park in La Verne.
After the Sagehens got the scoring started, Oxy peppered the back of the PP net with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. Rebecca Hofer tied things at 1-1 before Julie Monday twice added to the lead.
A defensive second half saw just a single goal, coming from the Hens, to pull the score to 3-2 at the intermission.
After the break, the Sagehens quickly tied things up at 3-3, but the lead was short lived as Oxy looked to sophomore Nanea Fujiyama for the first goal of a second-half hat-trick to give the Black and Orange an advantage they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest. Karie Nickle then got in on the scoring to give Oxy a two-goal lead.
The Hens would get within one at 5-4 late in the third, but Fujiyama added her second goal of the game just 16 seconds into the fourth quarter and capped off her hat-trick with 1:25 to play. A PP goal 12 seconds later would be the final offensive output on either side.
Hofer and Tessa Bailey-Findley would each add a pair of assists and both Fujiyama and Monday drew a pair of ejections.
The Tigers' defense stepped up this afternoon, stopping five of seven 5-on-6 situations for PP. Rachel Adeleye blocked 14 Sagehens' shots and grabbed two steals in the win. Fujiyama came away with three steals to lead the squad.
In the other semi final game today the University of Redlands broke a 7-7 tie in the third quarter with a trio of uncontested goals, clinging to a 10-9 victory after a late Claremont-Mudd-Scripps surge.
Occidental (19-9, 9-0 SCIAC) and Redlands (21-10, 7-2) will face off in the 2011 SCIAC Championship game on Sunday, May 1 at 3:15 p.m.
Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
