Photo by Kelly Young

Whittier, CA – Last Wednesday, April 26, Occidental lacrosse competed at Whittier College in the Tigers' last game of regular season. In the closest game the Tigers have seen all season, they lost in overtime 14-13.

In the first quarter, the Tigers went on a run after Whittier College was up 2-0. Occidental scored what should have been six goals in a row, but two were taken away after stick check. However, the Tigers were still awarded four back-to-back goals and ended the first quarter 4-4. Junior captains Halle Knutson, attacker, and Bella Kwan, midfielder, scored the first two goals for Occidental. They were followed by two sophomores: Ella Skoglund, midfielder, and Emma Cho, attacker. All four of these Tigers were leaders on Occidental's offensive end. Knutson, Cho, and Kwan all scored two goals while Skoglund earned a hat trick. First-year midfielder Maeve Moylan also scored two goals for the Tigers in the third and fourth quarter. 

Even though Moylan assisted Kwan's first goal, most of the Tigers' goals were off of strong drives. At the end of the first half the Poets led 9-5. Three of the Tigers' five goals were off of drives, one was assisted, and one was awarded after a free position shot. Halle Knutson led Occidental in assists with two. The Tigers had a huge comeback in the second half scoring eight goals and holding the Poets to four.

The Tigers fought hard in the midfield as well winning most of the draw controls. Of the 21 draw controls in the game, Occidental won 13. Again, Knutson led the team with seven draw controls and Moylan was next up with four. Knutson was truly a force to be reckoned with on the field and kept the Tigers' spirits up as they fought hard for a victory. In addition to draw controls and assists, Knutson led the team in ground balls as well. Knutson had five, first-year defender Ellie Mahoney had four, and sophomore goalie Andie Angelacci had three. Additionally, Angelacci and Moylan led the team in caused turnovers with two each. While Angelacci earned these through plays on the defensive end, one of which was a stunning interception after a Whiitier attacker tried to feed the ball from behind the goal, Moylan worked to cause turnovers all over the field.

The game came to an exciting end with junior attacker Ariel Shweiki scoring the 13th goal for the Tigers and tying the score at the end of the fourth quarter. Then, the Tigers had a defensive stop with Angelacci making a huge save and holding the ball for the last 20 seconds of regular time. After losing the draw control in overtime, the Tigers' defense held the Poets' attack for two minutes and seven seconds causing many offensive resets. Unfortunately, with under a minute left in the first half of overtime, Whittier College scored off of a hard drive around the crease ending the game.

It would be wrong to underestimate the impact the Tigers' defense had on making this a close game. While defenders don't get the glory of scoring goals, they take pride in making hard stops and successfully transitioning the ball to the attacking end. During the game, Andie Angelacci had 18 saves meaning she saved 56% of the shots she faced (an extremely impressive percentage). Additionally, the Tigers were 100% on clears. Whittier College's attack has many talented athletes with senior Lauren Sepulveda earning top five honors in the SCIAC for every attacking category: goals, assists, points, and shots; however, that did not stop the Tigers from working hard to stop them. When asked for her thoughts on the game, Andie Angelacci said, "I think the game was a tough one, but defense stayed strong and continued to make plays and big stops that helped change momentum. Personally, I think I played the best I could at that moment in time."

The Tigers are grateful to have another game under their belt as they look towards postseason play. Beating Whittier for fourth place, the Tigers will face the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on May 3, in the SCIAC semifinals. Tune into the Sagehens' livestream to cheer on your Tigers as they fight for a spot in the finals.