Last Saturday, Pomona-Pitzer improved on their early loss to Redlands but still could not overcome a team that is becoming this season’s in-league rival. Pomona-Pitzer battled Redlands for nearly the entire first half before Bulldog forward Alex Laughton scored to give his team the lead. In the second half, Pomona-Pitzer ceded another goal to Redlands just three minutes into the period. Although the score would read 2-0 Redlands over Pomona-Pitzer, the Sagehens were in no way dominated, as they had 11 shots over the course of the game. The Sagehens’ best chance came after Erik Munzer PZ ’13 fired a fabulous long ball up the sideline, which gave Lawrence McDonald PO ’15 the chance to cross. This set up Avery Raimondo’s PO ’15 deft flick across the face of the goal that forced Redlands goalkeeper Andreas Silva to extend himself on the ground to keep the ball out of the net.
Monday the Sagehens played last week’s canceled game against Whittier and returned to their winning ways with a tough 1-0 victory. In the 13th minute, Danny Nasry’s PO ’13 dribble penetration past four defenders to reach the endline allowed him to slot the ball back to Lawrence McDonald, who promptly finished. The rest of the game, Pomona-Pitzer battled hard to overcome a large, athletic Whittier team that rammed long ball after long ball up the throat of the Sagehen defense. The game nearly got out of control as an unapologetic referee whistled 32 fouls (20 for Pomona-Pitzer) and six yellow cards (three for each team). Although Whittier technically outshot Pomona-Pitzer 8-4, the Sagehens more seriously threatened the Poets’ goal, forcing breakaway saves and goal-saving tackles as their savvy passing play earned them multiple high-quality chances.
On Wednesday, the Sagehens travel to La Verne to take on a team they beat 2-0 earlier in the season. Next weekend, Pomona-Pitzer returns home to take on CMS on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.