REDLANDS - The Occidental women's soccer team went into its final game of the season with a chance to make the SCIAC postseason tournament. But the Bulldogs played spoiler to the Tigers' plans, edging them out 2-1 and ending Oxy's season.

The Tigers entered the game in fourth place, 2 points ahead of the Bulldogs and needed just a tie to advance. The Bulldogs took the early lead, when Lihini Weerasinghe scored off a shot in the box from a pass by Savannah Laursen. 

Oxy battled back in the second half when Michaela Tsuha stole the ball from a Bulldog defender, gathered it, and sent a pass to SCIAC leading scorer Julie Khil, who found the back of the net, evening the score 1-1 in the 51st minute.

The game remained close with both teams' back-lines playing tough. But in the 73rd minute Laursen received a perfect pass from Kate Frame and she put the Bulldogs ahead for good, 2-1.

Oxy played a physical Redlands team hard all night, and evened the score, but the goal was disallowed by the officials. 

From the Coach: "It's certainly something we didn't want to finish the season on," said Oxy head coach Colm McFeely. "But our team did something they've done on many occasions, they fought their hearts out and took it to Redlands. I'm proud of our overall resilience and spirit."

Season in Review: Although the Tigers did not reach the postseason, they can still celebrate the strides they made this year. Occidental finishes the season 9-6-1 (7-6-1 SCIAC) nearly doubling their win total from a year ago.

Occidental returns 23 players next season, so the Tigers can expect more success in upcoming years.

"Our seniors, [Abigail Mitchell, Taryn Ng, Karina Garcia, Katie McDonald, and Stephanie Welty] have left and great legacy for future Tigers, and the should be proud of their efforts," McFeely concluded.