PASADENA — The Occidental College women's water polo team is headed to the semifinals of the SCIAC Championship tournament for a fifth consecutive year after beating Whittier 9-4 in first round play on Friday.
Oxy faces Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Pasadena City College.
Sixth-seeded Oxy used a strong defensive effort and a 4-0 fourth-quarter surge to pull away for the win.
Senior Nanea Fujiyama (Honolulu), the Tigers go-to player all season, was held scoreless for only the second time in SCIAC play this season, but her defensive effort helped propel the Tigers with a game-high five steals.
Offensively, sophomore Katie Gibbs (Orinda) put together a break-out game with her first hat-trick of the season. She scored two of her three goals in the first quarter and her third goal in the fourth to give the Tigers a 7-4 lead with just more than 2 minutes to play.
After Whittier opened the scoring midway through the first quarter, the Tigers immediately responded when Danielle Garcia (Houston) hit from six meters out on a cross pass from junior Morgan McClafferty (Huntington Beach). McClafferty finished with a team-high three assists and added a goal of her own.
The Tigers took the lead for good minutes later when Gibbs powered one in from the center position on the right side of the cage.
Lindsay Albino (Greenwich, Conn.), who's been red-hot for the Tigers down the stretch, also scored twice in the game from the center position. The junior now has 18 goals in nine SCIAC games this season.
Complete tournament results/schedules can be found at: http://gocaltech.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2012-13/releases/SCIACchampionships
