Box Score By Michael Wells
Sports Information Director
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — There were plenty of goals to go around at Lower Field on Wednesday, but the game came down to just one.
The Occidental College women's soccer team fell short in their quest to put together an improbable comeback, losing a high-scoring affair to Pomona-Pitzer 4-3 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
Goals from Occidental's Alex Nicholson, Elissa Minamishin and Whitney Roline were overshadowed by an impressive three-goal, one-assist performance from Pomona-Pitzer's Allie Tao. Tao found the net early and often, scoring her first goal third minute and her second in the 27th.
It was Tao's last goal though, in the 56th minute, that went from being unimportant to the deciding factor in holding off the late Oxy surge.
Tao's third goal gave Pomona-Pitzer (6-2, 4-1) a 4-1 cushion they held until Roline headed in a Kellee Murayama set piece in the 83rd minute, cutting the Sagehen lead to two. Then Alex Nicholson finished off a rebound minutes later, bringing the Tigers within one with 1:04 left to play.
Time expired without any further threats and Oxy (2-5, 2-2) was left with the ironic feeling of wondering what the result may have been had they played that well from the start of the game.
"The enthusiasm was definitely there, but I think it came a little bit too late," Occidental defender Maddy Rasch said. "We talked about really coming out on fire but we didn't totally do that. That was disappointing, but we did stick it out until the end. ...That shows that we are capable of getting there, but we just need to start earlier."
It was a bittersweet scramble to get back into the game for the Tigers after not playing well for the better part of 90 minutes.
"I think our effort was certainly commendable in coming back. ...It's unfortunate that it took that long," Oxy's Liz Martin said. "We showed that we had the capability to score two goals quickly so I think that's a positive."
Tigers forward Elissa Minamishin scored the first Tigers goal, bringing her season total to seven goals in seven games.
