Box Score CLAREMONT, CA: Pomona-Pitzer held steady through a late barrage of Cal Lutheran attacks to secure a 4-3 win and push its winning streak to four games in Saturday's SCIAC action.
While Pomona-Pitzer (6-4, 4-2 SCIAC) opened up the scoring only six minutes in on Junior Alyssa Kim's goal, the Hens and Regals would trade blows the rest of the way in a heavyweight offensive battle that went all the way down to the wire. Nursing a 2-1 lead over Cal Lutheran (3-6-1, 2-3-1 SCIAC) at halftime courtesy of Agueda Dudley-Berrios' first goal of the season in the 41st minute, Freshman Peri Cuppens' 68th minute goal gave the Sagehens breathing room for all of 30 seconds before SCIAC leading-scorer Raquel Weckhurst would bring the game back to 3-2. The two goal cushion off of Kim's 78th minute goal was short-lived as well as Weckhurst would cut the deficit to 4-3 in the 84'. Over the last six minutes of the match the Sagehens would have to withstand waves of Regal attacks but timely tackles by defenders Taylor Fortson, Natalie Barbaresi, and Nadia Alaiyan gave Pomona-Pitzer the muscle it needed to grit out the 4-3 victory.
Alyssa Kim led the way for the Pomona-Pitzer offense as she recorded her fifth goal in four games as well as extending her point streak to four games. Kim has totaled 12 points over the Sagehens' winning streak and is currently second in the SCIAC in points and goals scored in conference action, trailing only Raquel Weckhurst of Cal Lutheran. Additionally, Peri Cuppens has compiled an impressive freshman campaign as she currently leads all SCIAC freshman in points and goals scored while ranking sixth in points overall.
With their fourth consecutive win, the Sagehens have not only tied their longest win streak of the 2014 campaign but have also beaten for the first time Cal Lutheran since 2012 and for only the second time since 2008.
"This was definitely an important win for us today" said head coach Jen Scanlon. "The way they kept coming at us at the end really proved we needed every single one of those [four] goals. The important thing for us is that we showed a lot of resiliency throughout the ups and downs of the match and found a way to hold on. It's hard to assess the importance of wins like these for confidence-building but I think this really helps us have a lot of momentum for Tuesday."
The Sagehens will be back at home at on Wednesday at 4pm versus Chapman as part of a four game homestand. All coverage for the games can be found on the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Website.
