Claremont, Calif. - Senior forward Allie Tao scored an early goal in the fifth minute and it held up the rest of the way as the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Soccer team defeated Redlands 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon in its regular season home finale.

The win is the sixth in a row for the Sagehens and their 10th in their last 11 games, as they improve to 13-2-1 overall and 11-2 in the SCIAC. Redlands falls to 6-9-3 overall and 5-6-2 in the SCIAC with the loss.

The victory sets Pomona-Pitzer up for a battle for the SCIAC title at Cal Lutheran on Saturday. The Regals also won on Wednesday (3-0 over Chapman) to remain tied with the Sagehens at 11-2. Whoever wins on Saturday will win the SCIAC title outright, while a tie woudl result in co-champions with the Regals getting the tiebreaker for the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament due to a 3-2 overtime win at Pomona-Pitzer on Oct. 9.

Tao came into the day with hat tricks in back-to-back games, and started off as if she might have another big day offensively, scoring just 4:54 into the game to stake the Sagehens to a 1-0 lead, which would turn out to be the only goal of the game. Sophomore midfielder Julia Dohner set up the goal outside the right side of the box, crossing the ball into the middle where Tao had plenty of space. She gathered the ball in, spun to her left, and cracked a left-footed shot into the left side of the net for her 11th goal of the year.

Redlands almost answered back five minutes later in a scramble off a corner kick as Summer Norquist got a loose ball 12 yards from goal. Sophomore goalie Corey Goelz got a small piece of it, but it still had enough on it to roll towards the empty net, but freshman Alyssa Kim (pictured) lunged in from her spot at the far post and was just able to clear the ball off the line before it crossed.

The Bulldogs kept heavy pressure on the rest of the way, but most of their quality chances were either blocked by Sagehen defenders or were off-target. Goelz finished the day with two saves, while the two Redlands goalies combined for five, including one from Lexi Davis to keep her team in it late as Agueda Dudley-Berrios broke in alone.

Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Pomona-Pitzer is guaranteed to be back at home on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. for a SCIAC semifinal game against an opponent to be determined. The championship on Saturday, Nov. 9 will be played at the highest remaining seed.