Los Angeles, CA — The crowd at Jack Kemp Stadium was absolutely electric on Friday night as the Oxy men's soccer team punched their ticket to the SCIAC Tournament Final with a win over the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. 

The Tigers came out ready to play in this one much like they have all season long. In only the 8th minute of the game, the Tigers had a free kick opportunity just outside the penalty box. Joey Schwartz, who was recently named 1st Team All-SCIAC, showed his skill with a beautiful kick that sailed right past the Sagehen goalie to give the Tigers a quick 1-0 lead as the crowd erupted. 

Both teams were showing why they were in the top 3 of the SCIAC in the 1st half, as it was played fairly evenly with Oxy having 7 shots and Pomona-Pitzer having 6 shots. Both defenses and goalies were looking sharp but the offenses were putting together passes to give the defenses as much trouble as they could. 

The 1-0 score held until the 1st half ended and it remained there for much of the 2nd half as well. In the 68th minute of the game, Pomona-Pitzer was given a free kick opportunity outside of the penalty box. Graeme Logan took advantage for the Sagehens and put a kick into the back of the net to tie the game 1-1. 

With the game tied up the intensity and urgency of both teams kicked into high gear, but the Tigers refused to allow the score to affect their play. They continued to work to get good looks at the goal and put pressure on the Sagehen goalie and defense. Ultimately, the game would head to overtime with a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. 

The intensity increased again in the 1st overtime period as both teams were fighting to extend their season. With only 8 seconds remaining in the period, the Tigers had a free kick opportunity toward the left side of the field. Evan Karp took the kick and placed a pass for Christian Corcoran to take in stride and use a header to place the ball right past the Pomona goalie for a 2-1 OT lead. 

The crowd once again went into a frenzy but there was another period of overtime to play so the Tigers were not done quite yet. With five minutes left in the game, Jake Foster took the ball from the right side of the penalty box and fired a high arcing kick that Christian Corcoran kicked right out of the air and into the net for his second goal of the overtime and of the season! 

The Tigers would go on to win 3-1 and advance to the SCIAC Tournament Final to take on Chapman in Orange, CA on Sunday November 6th at 1:00PM.