The Pomona-Pitzer women’s soccer team has opened the new season in promising style with three defensively dominating shutout victories in its first six matches, while one of their three losses was a hard-fought overtime battle.
The Sagehens’ new squad has been bolstered by 12 freshmen, including star Pitzer goalie Talia Shulman and Pomona offensive force Allie Tao. The new players are confident they can contrbute to a successful campaign. “Our season is going really well, in my opinion. We’re trying out new things because we have talented people that are capable of adapting to what we’re trying to do, and we have a strong enough team to do extremely well this season,” said Arianna Sanchez PO ‘14. Charlotte Fisken PO ‘14 stated it more bluntly: “We’re good at soccer.” The results have backed up the claim thus far.
The team’s first game was against UC Santa Cruz, who defeated the Sagehens 2-0 last year. This year, with Traci Lopez PO ‘12 scoring 10 seconds into the second half, the Sagehens got revenge and pulled off a 1-0 victory.
Pomona-Pitzer then took on Concordia University, where the Sagehens valiantly held off the Eagles in the scoreless regulation periods before a tragic overtime, where Concordia grabbed the golden goal, ending the game 1-0.
The women then took on Chapman University on Sept. 11 , pulling off their second 1-0 win thanks to Kathleen Kerr PO ‘11 scoring in the second half.
The Sagehens destroyed Whittier 2-0 as Tao, assisted by Lopez, opened the scoring by putting in her first goal in a collegiate game. Claire Mueller PO ‘13 scored an unassisted goal later in the first half to give the Sagehens some breathing room.
The Hens’ first non-overtime loss of the year came at the hands of the pesky University of Redlands, who defeated Pomona-Pitzer 3-0, despite the Sagehens strong offensive push in the second half.
The Sagehens next took on California Lutheran University Wednesday. P-P was looking to avenge a loss from last season, and the players were ready for battle. “It’s gonna be a really tough one to watch from the bench,” the injured Emma Wolfarth PO ‘14 said.
The Sagehens could not pull out an away victory, however, as the Regals took the match by a score of 2-0. The match was scoreless heading into halftime, but Cal Lutheran scored an early second half goal that proved to be the difference maker.
P-P will travel to Occidental tomorrow to try to get back to .500 in SCIAC play.