LOS ANGELES — The Occidental women's lacrosse team struggled on the draw in a 15-8 loss to undefeated Pomona-Pitzer at Jack Kemp Stadium on Saturday.

Pomona-Pitzer won eight of the first nine draws, 10 of 12 in the first half and finished the game with an 18-7 advantage in the critical statistical category.

The Sagehens success on the draw helped earn them 38 shots to Oxy's 21.

When the Tigers did have the ball, they had some success against Pomona-Pitzer's very good defense. Marie Whitmore led Oxy's offense with three goals and two assists, Alessandra Pelliccia had two goals and one assist, Isabella Litt had two goals, and Lauren Di Lella had one.

Oxy goalkeeper Katherine Drake had a solid game in the cage, saving 13 shots in nearly 48 minutes played.

Emma Rogers, the reigning SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week, caused four turnovers and had five ground balls.

Sarah Woo led the Sagehens with three goals, four draw controls and four ground balls, and Maggie Sweeney had a pair of goals, five ground balls, four draw controls and four caused turnovers.

Oxy scored the game's first goal and kept the Sagehens off the scoreboard for the first 10:31 of the contest, but when the Sagehens did start finding the net they went on a 5-0 midway through the first half to take control of the game.

Pomona-Pitzer extended its lead to 8-3 by halftime and held at least a four-goal cushion the rest of the way. 

Season Impact: The Tigers fall to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in SCIAC play. Oxy drops to third place in the SCIAC standings with the first round of games in the books.

Pomona-Pitzer improves to 7-0 and 6-0.

Next Game: Oxy is back in action on Monday with a home game against Kenyon at 1 p.m.