Author: Henry Meier
The Occidental women’s soccer team suffered a tough 3-1 loss on October 13 to the Pomona Sagehens. The game was hard fought from the beginning, but it seemed that the Tigers lacked the energy with which they are accustomed to playing.
“We came out flat, and as a result, we didn’t play well in the first half,” Co-Captain Adrienne Spivak (senior) said. “This really serves as a wake-up call for us.”
Although Oxy’s defense was stout in the first half, they found themselves down 1-0 after an amazing goal by Pomona that came on a strike from outside the box with 8:50 remaining in the period. This unbelievable goal, combined with the Tigers inability to finish several offensive opportunities, led to their halftime deficit.
The Tigers came out in the second half with much more intensity and seemed to be on track to even the game. However, missed opportunities hurt the Tigers, as they could not score despite several chances.
While it seemed that Oxy could not catch a single break on offense, Pomona’s squad had everything go right for them. In the 50th minute, a scrum around the Tigers goal off a Pomona corner kick led to a Sagehen goal when Oxy failed to clear. Later on, with 25:28 left in the game, fortune again seemed to favor Pomona. Oxy Keeper Melissa Warner (senior) came out of the cage to deflect a cross and the ball deflected off her into the net. With this string of bad luck, the Tigers found themselves down 3-0 with only 25 minutes to play.
Nevertheless, Oxy was not going to go down without a fight. As they had the whole second half, the Tigers continued to battle. The pace of the game became frantic as the Tigers kept pushing the attack, but remained unable to finish on offense.
Hope slowly slipped away as the seconds ticked off the clock, but Oxy was undaunted. Finally, with 8:22 remaining in the game, Carly Wachi (sophomore) came up with a spectacular strike from the top of the box that just drifted over the outstretched arms of Pomona’s keeper into the top of the goal. With renewed hope, the Tigers turned up the intensity. In the last eight minutes of the game, Oxy played with grit and determination, but Pomona’s defense held.
The 3-1 loss to Pomona dropped Oxy to 7-4 and 6-2 in SCIAC play. The Tigers remain in second place in the SCIAC standing with important matches coming up against first place Claremont and third place Redlands.
The Tigers intend to use the Pomona loss to better themselves as a team.
“We need to go back to how we were playing at the beginning of the season where we were a first-half team and really came out and played well from the get-go,” Wachi said.
Both Captains Spivak and Warner reiterated Wachi’s sentiment.
“We’ll come back Monday and start over,” Warner said. “We still have the rest of the season ahead of us, and we’re going to make the most of it.”
Come cheer on the Women’s Soccer team at their next home game against Cal Lutheran on Wednesday ,October 24 at 4 p.m. on the Lower Soccer Field.
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