Pomona-Pitzer women’s soccer defeated the Occidental Tigers 4-3 in an away game on Wednesday. The Sagehens were led by midfielder Allie Tao PO ’14, who scored three goals and assisted a fourth. She scored two minutes into the match with a right-footed shot from 22 yards out. Dribbling down the left side, Tao passed the ball to Traci Lopez PZ ’12, who quickly played her back for the shot. Tao scored again unassisted in tight space at 26:38 to put the Sagehens up 2-0. Quickly after Tao’s point, Occidental forward Elissa Minamishin scored a controversial goal.
In the second half, Tao assisted defender Anika Burrell PO ’13 in her first goal of the year. Burrell ripped a left-footed shot past Oxy keeper Megan Leslie to bring the score to 3-1. Within a minute, Tao scored a third time with a well-placed through ball from Lopez. Tao touched it past Leslie to earn her fourth goal of the season.
Occidental rallied in the last ten minutes with a header goal from Whitney Roline with 7:30 left in the match. With 1:06 remaining, Occidental player Alex Nicholson scored off an uncleared corner kick. Luckily the Sagehens’ big lead allowed them to pull off the win despite the Tigers’ late comeback. This is the first time the Sagehens have defeated Occidental in an away game since 2007.
Last Saturday, the soccer team also beat non-conference Chapman University 2-0. The Sagehens controlled the beginning of the game, outshooting the Panthers 6-0. In the 18th minute, Tao brought the Sagehens into the lead. Cutting the ball back outside the box, she hit a left-footed shot into the upper right corner past Chapman keeper Chloe Canta. After Tao’s goal, Chapman quickly fired back, almost tying the game with a shot from forward Aimee Evans just 10 seconds after the kickoff that deflected off the crossbar.
In the second half, Pomona-Pitzer tallied 13 shots against Chapman’s five. Canta was taken out because of an injury and keeper Rissa Andersen took her place. With eight minutes left in the game, Andersen stopped forward Lopez’s breakaway. However, an infraction was called and a penalty kick awarded to the Sagehens. Lopez finished the kick for her fifth goal of the season and made the final score 2-0 for the Sagehens. P-P outshot Chapman 19-8, and Sagehen goalkeeper Emma Wolfarth PO ’14 made six saves for another shutout.
The Sagehens are currently 3-1 in SCIAC and 6-2 overall. P-P will continue SCIAC play against Cal Lutheran at home on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. The Sagehens face tough competition on Saturday, as Cal Lutheran is 4-0 in SCIAC and ranked 17th among NCAA Division III teams.
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