Claremont, Calif. (April 30, 2012) – This week saw the Women’s Water Polo team, led by its two senior captains from Pitzer, capture the SCIAC championship and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Annie Oxborough-Yankus ’12 and Perri Hopkins ’12 both stepped up in pivotal moments for the Sagehens to lead them to the championship. Oxborough-Yankus had the game-winning goal in an 8-7 win over CMS in the semifinals with just under two minutes to play (and followed that up with an immediate steal to help kill 35 more seconds off the clock). Hopkins, meanwhile, gave Pitzer-Pomona its first lead of the championship match against Redlands in overtime when she scored to put the Sagehens ahead 10-9.
Oxborough-Yankus (10 goals in the SCIAC Tournament) kept her team in the game early on in the championship, as she had five of the first six goals for the Sagehens, including all three in the first half. After Redlands built a 6-3 lead in the third quarter, she answered with two more goals to help close the gap to 7-6 after three quarters. Alyssa Woodward ’15 added a fourth-quarter goal to help force the overtime, and Mahalia Prater-Fahey PO ’12 ended the game in the third overtime with a sudden-death goal to give the Sagehens a 12-11 win.
The Sagehens have now won 11 matches in a row, and finished the SCIAC undefeated (10-0 including regular season and postseason, with five of the wins coming in overtime). Pitzer-Pomona moves on to the NCAA Championships at San Diego State in two weeks.
Baseball closed out the regular season with six straight wins as it finished in second place in the SCIAC (19-9), just one game behind league-leading La Verne (20-8). The Sagehens were in the middle of the pack a few weeks ago, but finished 13-2 in their last 15 games to nearly come all the way back for a share of the league title. Pitzer-Pomona defeated Redlands 5-4 on Friday, but were eliminated when La Verne shut out Whittier 3-0.
In the regular season finale, Travis Rooke-Ley ’12 picked up his eighth win of the season on the mound and Erik Munzer ’13 contributed three RBI as the Sagehens defeated CMS 9-4, completing a four-game season sweep of the Stags. Samuel Fox ’15 also took “one for the team” three times, as he was hit by three pitches and scored three times. Fox was also 2-for-3 with two RBI in a 5-4 win over Redlands on Friday, while E.J. Lopez ’15 was 3-for-4 with a run scored.
Women’s Lacrosse had a strong finish to its season as the Sagehens defeated Whittier 16-9 in the first round of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, and then led top-seeded Redlands 4-3 at the half before falling 10-7. Jana London ’14 scored a career-high nine goals against Whittier, tying the Poets all by herself, while Rachel Kessler ’14 came forward from the defensive unit and scored her first goal of the season. Casey Leek ’14 had a strong week in goal as well, tallying 10 saves against Redlands.
Men’s and Women’s Tennis competed at the Ojai Tournament in their final tune-up before the SCIAC Championships this weekend. On the women’s side, Jamie Solomon ’13 reached the Round of 16 in singles (before falling to the top seed from Fresno Pacific in the event, which included Division II and NAIA competitors) and the quarterfinals in doubles, with teammate Kara Wang PO ’13.
On the men’s side, Max Sabel ’13 reached the quarterfinals in doubles with teammate Frankie Allinson PO ’13 and won the consolation bracket in singles after dropping his first match. The Men’s Tennis team will travel to Redlands this weekend for SCIAC Championships, where it will be the No. 3 seed, while the Women’s Tennis team will travel to Cal Lutheran as the No. 2 seed.
At the SCIAC Track and Field championships. Alex Oxborough-Yankus ’14 finished sixth in the women’s hammer throw, while Matt Owen ’13 was sixth in the men’s pole vault to provide points for the Sagehens in the field events. Leslie Canter ’12 ran a strong steeplechase, breaking 12 minutes (11:52.69) to finish in eighth place, while Roxanne Cook ’13 qualified for the finals in the 1500 meters and came in tenth. On the men’s side, Alex Johnson ’13 was fifth in the 5000 meters, and Greg Hook ’14 qualified for the finals in the 400 meters, finishing seventh.
Softball qualified for the SCIAC Tournament for the first time since 2008, but lost two games on the first day to end their season at 22-19, setting a school record for wins. Arianna (Ari) Roach ‘12 capped off her career with a home run in her first career postseason at-bat to give the Sagehens an early 1-0 lead against CMS, but it did not hold up.
