LOS ANGELES – Despite a sluggish first half, the Occidental College women's lacrosse team rattled off five unanswered goals to erase a four-goal deficit and take an 8-7 lead with 9 minutes, 44 seconds left.

But the Oxy run stopped there and Pomona-Pitzer scored the game's last two goals, beating the Tigers 9-8 at Jack Kemp Stadium on Saturday.

Rebecca Belding (Burlingame) and Tori Larson (Denver, Colo.) led Oxy's comeback with two goals each and then Sarah Kessler (Portland, Ore.) gave Oxy its first lead of the game on a close shot from in front of the cage just after the 10-minute mark in the second half. Pomona-Pitzer's Aubrey Douglass scored the equalizer with 5:48 left and then found Jana London on a pass from behind the cage that London jumped in the air to control and buried in the bottom of the net, giving the Sagehens their final lead.

Belding scored a game-high four goals and Larson finished with three. Lauren Wemple (Needham, Mass.) dished out three assists, Monica Rosenkranz (Menlo Park) caused three turnovers and Charlotte Bromley (Watertown, Conn.) and Alessandra Quaroni (Austin, Texas) each added three.

Sagehens goalie Casey Leek led Pomona-Pitzer to an early lead with several saves. She finished with 10 and had a handful to keep Oxy off of the scoreboard through the first 17 minutes of the game.

The Tigers (7-8, 5-3 SCIAC) fall to third place with the loss. Chapman (11-3, 5-2 SCIAC) plays at Redlands tonight at 7 p.m. Oxy, which still holds a one-game lead over Pomona-Pitzer (9-6, 4-4 SCIAC), hosts Chapman and plays at Redlands in its final two regular season games.

Oxy drew its biggest crowd of the year as fans packed the stands sporting purple gear in an organized effort to raise money and awareness to fight epilepsy. Wemple, who has epilepsy, spearheaded, planned and executed the event that included a pregame ceremony honoring a family with an epileptic daughter and a halftime speech detailing their story. Elizabeth Aquino, whose daughter Sophie has severe epilepsy, gave a heartfelt talk over the public address at halftime.