COSTA MESA, Calif. — Occidental College lost to Westcliff (CA) 3-2 on Saturday at Orange Coast College. The Tigers finished with a 14-10 edge in shots and matched Westcliff with six shots on goal. Occidental scored once in each half and held Westcliff scoreless in the second half after the home team scored three times before halftime.
Occidental answered Westcliff's early goal when
Mia Merkelbach scored at 20:56 to make it 1-1, but Westcliff struck twice later and sent Occidental into halftime trailing 3-1.Â
Earlier, Occidental created several early looks, with
Caitlin Kailus and
Avery Rosenfield missing wide and
Maile Fukushima forcing a save from Lola Carson inside the opening 10 minutes.
 Occidental also earned two first-half corner kicks from
Jordyn Tribus before Merkelbach's equalizer, while
Melanie Rodriguez made two saves as Westcliff continued to press.Â
Kuuipo Laumatia put Westcliff back ahead in the 32nd minute, and Samantha Aguila added another goal in the 42nd before
Emerson Shirey sent Occidental's final shot of the half high.
The Tigers scored the second half's only goal at 54:45, when
Bella Calemine finished to cut Westcliff's lead to 3-2.Â
In the opening stretch of the half, Occidental faced a Warrior corner in the 50th minute before earning one of its own through
Jillian Maigue at 56:10, with
Sophia Weigt shown a yellow card shortly afterward.Â
Occidental kept pushing from 64:06 to 73:21 with five shots and a Tribus corner, as
Olivia Urquhart forced two saves from Lola Carson while Shirey,
Zakrie Smith and Weigt also added attempts. After Rodriguez saved Isabella Bottero's shot at 74:11, Calemine hit the crossbar less than a minute later, and Occidental added a Smith shot, another Tribus corner and a
Tess Adlam attempt before the match ended with Westcliff (CA) ahead 3-2.
Occidental Top Performers
Bella Calemine
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- one goal
- two shots, one on goal
Mia Merkelbach
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- one goal
- one shot on goal
Melanie Rodriguez
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- three saves
- 90:00 in goal
Olivia Urquhart
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- two shots, both on goal
The Tigers are still searching for
Lydia Mitchell's first win as a head coach, now 0-3-0 overall, and will look to earn it with SCIAC play looming against La Verne on Wednesday, September 16.
