Photo from Sagehen Athletics
Claremont, Calif. (November 5, 2022)—The Pomona-Pitzer Women’s Soccer team punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament after their 3-0 win on Saturday over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in the SCIAC Tournament Championship at the Pomona-Pitzer soccer field.
The Sagehens earned their third-straight SCIAC Tournament Championship and their third-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Sagehens had three different scorers in Amanda Khu PO’25, Genevieve Gray PO’23, and Ella Endo PO’25, while Hannah Hong PO’26 assisted on all three goals for the Sagehens.
The Sagehens and Athenas have never met previously in the SCIAC Tournament Championship in its 15-year existence. The two teams have played against each other three times in the SCIAC semifinals and all went in favor of CMS.
Both teams met at the Pomona-Pitzer soccer field earlier this season for a game resulting in a 0-0 draw. After 90 scoreless minutes in the regular season, it took just four minutes in the championship for the Sagehens to find the back of the net after Khu headed in a cross from Hong to put the Sagehens up 1-0.
After netting the first goal, the Sagehens stayed with the attack and ended up doubling their lead. Hong ended up with her second assist of the game off the corner after Gray headed in her first career goal to give the Sagehens a 2-0 advantage over CMS.
The Athenas trailed 2-0 at halftime. CMS started attacking the Sagehens, but goalkeeper Naomi Meurice PO’23 stayed solid along with the Sagehens’ backline.
After sending so many players forward, CMS got caught in a counterattack as the Sagehens pushed forward and sent a ball in the box that was flicked on by Hong and found the feet of Endo, who put away any chance of a comeback with the Sagehens’ third goal.
The Sagehens now await their opponent in the NCAA Tournament with the draw on Monday morning.
Adapted from the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics press release “Sagehens Earn Third-Straight SCIAC Tournament Championship.” To learn more, please visit Sagehen Athletics.
