Claremont, Calif. - The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Lacrosse team built an 8-3 lead at the half and held on for a 9-6 win over Occidental in a key late-season SCIAC matchup on Wednesday evening.

With the win, Pomona-Pitzer improves to 14-3 overall and 7-2 in the SCIAC, pulling even with the Tigers in the conference standings (10-4, 7-2). Redlands is currently in first at 8-1, and the Sagehens travel to Redlands on Saturday with a chance to create a three-way tie for first place in the SCIAC standings. If Pomona-Pitzer were to win by more than one goal it would be the top seed in the conference tournament.

The Sagehens also won after receiving news earlier in the day that it had earned an NCAA West Region ranking for the first time in program history. Pomona-Pitzer entered the game ranked ninth in the region, while Occidental was eighth (and Redlands fifth).

Prior to the game, the Sagehens honored their four seniors, Logan Galansky, Kaitlin Jones, Rachel Kessler and Jana London. London went on to lead the Sagehens in scoring with three goals, while Sarah Markowitz and Rebecca Long each had two.

Occidental scored the first goal of the game, but the Sagehens rattled off the next five goals in a row, including back to back goals from London 31 seconds apart. After Occidental broke the drought and pulled within 5-2, London earned a free position attempt and faked a shot before passing to Aubrey Douglass on the doorstep to make it 6-2 just 19 seconds later at the 15:17 mark of the first half.

Pomona-Pitzer finished off the half with a transition goal as Ally McLaughlin scooped up a ground ball in the defensive end, ran the length of the field, and found Long for a goal to make it 8-3 with 2:52 left in the first stanza, which is where the score stood at the break.

Markowitz scored on a free position shot with 23:56 left to make the score 9-4, and the Sagehens did not score again, but their defense held tight and only allowed Occidental to find the net twice to make the final 9-6. Gaby Fukumura finished with seven saves to get the win.

Pomona-Pitzer will face Redlands at 7 p.m. with a chance to become the top seed in the SCIAC Tournament. A win would guarantee at least an opening round bye and a top two seed, while a loss would mean the Sagehens would likely be the No. 3 seed and host an opening round game, unless Whittier were to upset Occidental.