With a high wind watch in effect, Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) women’s lacrosse teams took to Zinda Field for the first 2026 bout of Sixth Street lacrosse on March 7. The Sagehens — who were just ranked No. 12 in the nation — pulled out a late 10-8 win on the backs of big first-year performances from Piper Higgins PO ’29 and Madeleine Trapp PO ’29. The Athenas gave their rivals a run for their money, leading 8-6 toward the end of the third quarter.
The teams traded goals early, leaving the Sagehens up 3-2 at the end of the first quarter. CMS’s starting goalie, Lyla Johnston SC ’26, kept her team in the rivalry with four saves in the first quarter, well-earning her first start in a Sixth Street game.
“I’ve always wanted to start a rivalry game, and obviously win,” Johnston said in a post-game interview. “We didn’t come out with a win this time, but knowing that we’re going to come out with a win next time is what motivates me.”
The second quarter saw the Athenas go down 5-3 before quickly scoring three goals in two minutes to take a 6-5 lead, which they held for the remaining seven minutes of the half.
“At the halftime talk, we all came together, and we echoed that we believed in ourselves and we believed in each other,” Sagehen captain and SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week Shelby Stanton PO ’26 said. “The [third quarter] shift comes from our mentality and the energy that we’re giving to each other, and I think that was really felt and really internalized by everyone.
Out of halftime, the Athenas continued to press, taking an 8-6 lead with just under eight minutes to go in the third quarter. But from there, it was all Sagehens, with Higgins scoring three of her game-leading four goals in the third quarter. With the help of a goal from Catherine Faucette PO ’29 with 1:30 to go in the quarter, P-P overcame struggles with ball security to take a one-goal lead into the final frame.
“It definitely wasn’t a game without mistakes,” Higgins said. “Especially for me, I made [many] mistakes. But a big thing for me was just moving on to the next play. That’s what we all had to do today, because they were a tough team — one of the toughest we faced.
A Callie Cross PZ ’28 goal in the fourth quarter sealed the game for the Sagehens, whose defense held strong against the CMS attack thanks to 13 caused turnovers (CT) — led by Stanton’s four and Joella Linder’s PO ‘27 two — and a combined 50 percent save rate from goalies Cailey Brousseau PO ’27 and Ruby Loesch PZ ’26.
“Our energy was to have a CT on every play that we could, and we wanted to pressure out with intensity and with composure and have a fire under our feet today,” Stanton said.
For Stanton and the other P-P seniors, the win keeps them undefeated in Sixth Street games and marks the Sagehens’ 15th consecutive win in the series dating back to 2020. Nonetheless, both teams are aware of the competitive nature of rivalry games and the value of every play.
“This is just the beginning,” Higgins said. “We won today. But next game, we’re going to treat it the same, as if it’s still 0-0. We’re not going to let this get to us.”
For Johnston, playing a top-15 team in the country as close as they did proves that this year’s CMS team has what it takes not only to beat the Sagehens but to make a real run. She described it as the best team she had been a part of during her time with CMS lacrosse.
“Obviously [P-P] is a great team,” Johnston said. “They rank 12th nationally, but knowing that that game really could have gone either way, and I think we made a lot more mistakes at the end … motivates me to know that we’re going to get it done next time.”
P-P and CMS will rematch on April 22, and possibly a third time, which would mark the seventh straight Sixth Street matchup in the SCIAC championship game. First, both teams will host Colorado College, with P-P on March 13 and CMS on March 15.
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