Claremont, Calif. (April 21, 2014) — This week in Sagehens Athletics saw heavy drama, with both the Women’s Water Polo and Women’s Lacrosse teams capturing winner-take-all battles for the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament in sudden death overtime on Saturday.
Alyssa Woodward ’15 scored the game-winning goal in sudden death overtime to give the Women’s Water Polo team the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament.
The day began with Women’s Water Polo traveling across Sixth Street to face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Sagehens came into the day with a 6-1 SCIAC record, while the Athenas were a perfect 7-0. The Sagehens had four different goal scorers in the early going as it stormed out to a 4-0 lead, but CMS regrouped and was able to pull ahead 6-5 in the third quarter.
Alyssa Woodward ’15 scored a goal to help the Sagehens take the lead back at 7-6 heading into the fourth quarter, before CMS tied it with 6:30 to play. The score stayed stuck at 7-7 through the final 6:30 of regulation and six minutes of overtime, sending the game into sudden death. On the first possession, Woodward drew a foul in front of the net and was awarded a five-meter shot, which she converted to give the Sagehens the thrilling win. Woodward tied for team high honors with three goals for the Sagehens, who will be the top seed at this weekend’s SCIAC Tournament, hosted by Whittier.
The drama repeated itself in the evening, as Women’s Lacrosse traveled to Redlands for its regular season finale. The Sagehens entered the game 7-2 in the SCIAC, while first-place Redlands was 8-1, and the winner of the game would earn the top seed in the SCIAC and the right to host all of its tournament games.
The contest see-sawed back and forth, as Redlands jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Sagehens stormed back with five straight goals to take a 5-4 lead. The Bulldogs tied the score up at 5-5 going into the half, but the Sagehens scored the first five goals of the second half to take a commanding 10-5 lead. Trailing 12-7 with 10 minutes left, though, Redlands came all the way back to tie the score in the final minute of regulation.
The Bulldogs nearly had the game won as they took a 13-12 lead into the second overtime session and had the ball, but a key turnover gave life to the Sagehens, who tied the game up with five seconds left and won in sudden death on a goal from Rebecca Long PO ’17. Jana London ’14 finished with a team-high four goals, while Aubrey Douglass ’16 chipped in with three goals and an assist. Women’s Lacrosse will host a semifinal game this Saturday against either CMS or Chapman, and would host the championship game on Saturday, May 3 if it wins.
Baseball had a big weekend as well, as it fought its way back into the SCIAC playoff hunt by sweeping three games from Occidental. The Sagehens are now one game behind three teams tied for fourth (the top four teams qualify for the SCIAC Tournament) with four games left to play. Samuel Fox ’15 had a big weekend from the leadoff spot in the batting order with three multi-hit games, finishing 7-for-14, while Mark Okuma ’15 hit a three-run homer to key a 6-2 win in the opening game of Saturday’s home doubleheader and added two RBI in Friday’s win at Occidental. Baseball hosts Whittier on Wednesday in its first of four SCIAC round robin games to close out the regular season.
Men’s Track and Field and Women’s Track and Field attended a SCIAC Quad meet at Caltech in its final tune-up before the conference championships on May 2-3. Bennett Kopperud ’16 earned first place in the 400-meter hurdles for the men’s team with a 55.53, while Rhea Jayachandran ’16 won the 100-meter hurdles for the women’s team with a 15.51. Alex Oxborough-Yankus ’14 was fourth in the women’s javelin with a throw of 33.82 meters.
Men’s Tennis and Women’s Tennis both closed out the regular season with wins over Whittier on Friday to sew up the second seed in the SCIAC Tournament, with the men taking a 6-3 win at home and the women earning a 9-0 win at Whittier. Jonathan Kim ’16 won at both singles (6-0, 6-3) and doubles (8-6), while Jake Yasgoor ’17 earned a 6-0, 6-3 win in singles and Chris Wiechert ’14 added an 8-1 doubles win on his Senior Day. Both tennis teams will travel to the annual Ojai Tournament this weekend, which will take place from Thursday through Sunday.
Men’s Golf and Women’s Golf were idle this week but will begin play at the SCIAC Championships at Oak Valley on Sunday. The SCIACs will be a three-day tournament running from Sunday-Tuesday. Jordan Fox ’15 will be among the top contenders for the men’s team, while Brian Fong ’17 and Joe Wagner ’17 also figure to be in the team’s top five.
To keep up to date with all of the news from Sagehens athletics, visit us on line at www.sagehens.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sagehens or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sagehens (@Sagehens).
This Week’s Schedule
Home Events In Bold
Wednesday, April 23
Baseball (H) vs. Whittier, 3 p.m.
Thursday, April 24
Men’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Friday, April 25
Men’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Water Polo at SCIAC Championships, TBA (at Whittier)
Softball (H) vs. Occidental, 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 26
Men’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Water Polo at SCIAC Championships, TBA (at Whittier)
Women’s Lacrosse (H) SCIAC Semifinals, 11 a.m.
Baseball at La Verne, 11 a.m.
Softball (H) vs. La Verne, 12 p.m.
Sunday, April 27
Men’s Golf at SCIAC Championships, 9 a.m. (Oak Valley)
Women’s Golf at SCIAC Championships, 9 a.m. (Oak Valley)
Men’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Tennis at Ojai Tournament, 10 a.m.
Women’s Water Polo at SCIAC Championships, TBA (at Whittier)
Baseball at Chapman, 3 p.m.
Monday, April 28
Men’s Golf at SCIAC Championships, 9 a.m. (Oak Valley)
Women’s Golf at SCIAC Championships, 9 a.m. (Oak Valley)
