Sagehens lacrosse battled both the Athenas and the torrential downpour on a wet and wild Sixth Street afternoon, slipping and sliding to secure a 15-10 victory at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’s (CMS) muddy Zinda Field on Saturday, March 2. The rivalry win brought the Pomona-Pitzer’s (P-P) conference record to 4-0 and extended their unbeaten streak against the Athenas to nine games over the last four years.
Clouds loomed over the stadium as the horn sounded for the first quarter, and within the first 30 seconds, Fiona Lewis PO ’25 gave the Hens’ their first goal. This opening score flustered the Athenas who then turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter. The Hens’ did not let this go unpunished as Hannah Gough PO ’25, Sydney Landauer PZ ’25, Grace Warner PO ’24 and Lewis put four more on the board for P-P.
Sagehen coach Sarah Queener expressed pride in the team’s offensive performance.
“I think everyone shared the ball well,” Queener said. “We tried to take the best possible shot once we got on offense.”
The Hens’ dynamic offense scored eight goals in the first half against an aggressive CMS defense that earned three yellow cards and four green cards — penalties which force a team to play a man down for a minute — in the half. Queener noted the level of competition in the Sixth Street rivalry, highlighting the battle that she said inevitably goes down each time the two teams face off.
“We’re definitely two very good teams,” Queener said. “And we get excited to play against a team like CMS because they’re so well coached and they play super hard.”
Warner started P-P’s third quarter scoring run with a goal in the fifth minute, scoring her fourth point of the game and twelfth of the season. Landauer and Lewis added on, each converting on man-up opportunities to bring the score to 11-5 at the end of the quarter. Lewis attributed the Hens’ scoring success to a skill they’ve been working on in practices.
“I think the biggest thing was our transition,” Lewis said. “We’ve been trying to piece together our defense to middies to offense, and I think today we were really able to capitalize that, and I think that showed with the score. We had almost half our goals off of transition play.”
The rain and wind picked up throughout the second half, but the Hens did not let it ruin their parade, continuing to shut down any Athenian offensives. According to Landauer, who had two goals and three assists on Saturday, the weather did not dampen the Sagehens’ spirit.
“It’s pretty funny that we’re playing on a grass field and it’s so muddy,” Landauer said. “We were the team that’s gonna have the most fun and be the team that laughs and enjoys it.”
It wasn’t until the end of the game that the sun started to come out, but despite the glimpses of light, it was still rainy days for CMS. Though the Athenas scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, P-P solidified their lead with three goals from River Buechner PO ’26, Gough and Lewis to secure the win.
Landauer credited not just P-P’s stellar offensive performance, but their solid defensive line for the win. They had 26 clears and 21 forced turnovers, while goalie Ruby Loesch PZ ’26 had nine saves in the cage off 19 CMS shots on goal.
“Our defense was really good,” Landauer said. “We had a lot of check downs, we played clean and I think that was really great.”
Lewis attributed the Hens’ on-field successes to the more holistic work they’ve put into their season so far. She specifically cited “Hen families” — Pairings of two upperclassmen and two lowerclassmen who get each other snacks, write notes and support each other on game days — as crucial to their team bonding.
“It’s a lot off the field, building that chemistry,” Lewis said. “We have Hen families, where we do a lot of that bonding. And I think that’s what makes us so strong is that we’re more so all together, we call it ‘Henergy.’ So we play for each other and then that’s what helps us in games actually come around cause it’s never about the individual, or one specific stat, it’s putting it all together.”
According to Lewis, the Hens are looking to use the momentum from this rivalry win as an early confidence booster while also seeing each game as a new opportunity and challenge.
“We have this quote [that goes] ‘WIN,’ What’s Important Now,” Lewis said. “Just focusing on ourselves and our own play. We’re not the same team we were last year and we’re not the same team we’re gonna be in ten years, so it’s just working on what we are now and seeing us succeed.”
And succeed they did. P-P lacrosse defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 11-7 on March 6 and dominated Redlands 20-1 on March 7. Looking forward, the Hens will host Whittier on Saturday, March 9.
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