Claremont, Calif. (October 24, 2011) — It was a big weekend for Sagehen Soccer, as both the Men’s Soccer and Women’s Soccer teams picked up huge 1-0 wins over Occidental on Saturday. The Men’s Soccer team clinched a SCIAC Tournament bid with its win, while the Women’s Soccer team now needs just one tie in its last two games to earn its postseason ticket.
Lawrence McDonald ’15 scored the game’s only goal as Pitzer-Pomona captured its win over Occidental on the road, McDonald’s team-leading fifth goal of the season. Junior co-captain Eric Munzer ’13 helped lead the defense to a shutout by holding Occidental to only six shot attempts in the entire game, the Sagehens’ sixth shutout in 12 conference games this year. Pitzer-Pomona closes out the regular season with a home game against Cal Lutheran on Wednesday and a road game at Whittier on Saturday, and has a chance to earn the second seed and the right to host a SCIAC semifinal on November 2 with two wins.
The Sagehen Women’s Soccer team had a dramatic home win with 25 seconds left against Occidental. Traci Lopez ’12 had her streak of five straight games with a goal snapped, but she helped set up the winning goal when she drew several defenders and passed the ball wide to Dana Christensen ’15, who sent a cross into the middle that was knocked home by defender Claire Mueller PO ’13. It was the first assist of Christensen’s young career. The Sagehens improved to 9-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the SCIAC heading into the final week of the regular season, with the last home game coming on Saturday at 11 a.m. against Whittier.
Volleyball saw Ellen Yamasaki ’15, the team’s top hitter, forced to fill in at setter all weekend due to injuries to both of the Sagehens’ regular setters. As a result, Yamasaki went over the 200-assist mark for the season, and joined a very rare 200-200-200 club with over 200 kills, 200 digs, and 200 assists on the year, passing all three milestones this week.
Men’s Water Polo had the rare opportunity to host the # 1 ranked team in the nation as UCLA visited Haldeman Pool on Saturday. The Sagehens hung tough for a while, before UCLA pulled away for a 14-4 win. Goalie Austin Strong ’15 had four saves in the second half, including once when he stopped the Bruins on a wide-open breakaway. Earlier in the day, the Sagehens cruised to a 13-4 win to improve to 2-1 in the SCIAC as Jason Cox ’13 contributed two goals. Cox also added one against UCLA.
The winter season got underway as the Men’s and Women’s Swimming teams competed at the Redlands October Invitational. Led by a strong showing from its first-year swimmers, Women’s Swimming was the top Division III finisher at the event. Mari Pettibone ’15 was fourth in the 200-meter breaststroke and tenth in the 100-meter breaststroke in her first collegiate competition.
Linebacker Justin Meng ’13 had a strong performance in a rough day for the Pitzer-Pomona Football team, as he had eight tackles, including one for a loss, and blocked an extra point against nationally ranked Cal Lutheran.
