Photo by Liisa Halloran

Los Angeles, CA — Occidental's women's soccer team faced the Whittier Poets on Homecoming Saturday as they also celebrated the team's seniors. 

#5 Kate Potvin, #13 Clare Madden, #17 Chloe Hetzel, #16 Kyra Bethune, #11 Anna Fukushima and #1 Ingrid Odmark were all celebrated pre-game to acknowledge their achievement both on and off the field at Occidental College. 

Once the game got started, Oxy was ready to go from the start. Early on, off of a corner kick from Malia DeCastro, Clare Madden had a header shot that needed to be saved by the Whittier goalie to prevent Oxy from taking the lead. 

Kyra Bethune later had a shot that was blocked by a Whittier defender. Oxy continued to get shots off as Mia Steadman and Madden added two more quickly before Lauren Cassel got Oxy on the board first with a goal off of a pass from Alessia Sachi. Up 1-0, Oxy would take that lead into the halftime intermission.

Only a little more than 5 minutes into the half, the Tigers would get on the board again and extend the lead to 2 when senior Anna Fukushima assisted Alessia Sachi on the second goal of the game. 

Oxy would continue to put pressure on the Poets and force the goalkeeper to make four more saves in the game to keep Whittier within striking distance. The Poets would get back in the game with a goal of their own in the 74th minute but Oxy would play tight defense after that and Odmark would come up with her 9th and final save of the game to secure the win for the Tigers late in the game. 

With this win Oxy moves to 4-4-2 in SCIAC play and still remains in the hunt for a tournament spot with two SCIAC games remaining in the season against Pomona-Pitzer and Caltech. 

They will next play against the Sagehens on Wednesday, October 25th in an away match at 4pm.