Whittier, Calif. - Madison Shipherd scored on a free kick 11:30 into the game and it held up the rest of the way as the Whittier Women's Soccer team stayed unbeaten with a 1-0 win over Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday. 

The loss drops the Sagehens to 2-3 on the season, including 0-1 in the SCIAC, while the Poets open up conference play with a win while moving to 4-0 overall. 

Pomona-Pitzer was stifled offensively for most of the game, but pushed more people forward late in the game and were able to put the Poets under some pressure. Junior midfielder Katie Tao (pictured) had a shot saved over the end line for a corner kick in the 86th minute.

The Sagehens added three more shots on goal in the final three minutes, with junior forward Agueda Dudley-Berrios, freshman defender Olivia DeJong and senior defender Natalie Barbaresi each being denied by Whittier goalie Alexi Cruz. Barbaresi's shot from outside the box came with just under 10 seconds remaining, and Cruz was able to hold onto the ball to kill off the final seconds.

Shipherd, who was named the SCIAC Female Athlete of the Week yesterday, continued her torrid scoring of late when she was fouled outside the left edge of the box in the 12th minute and converted a free kick at the 11:30 mark. Whittier maintained a 7-2 edge in shots in the first half and had a 12-3 edge through 85 minutes. before the Sagehens closed the deficit to 12-7 with their late flurry. Cruz ended with a five-save shutout for the Poets, with four of the saves coming in the last five minutes. 

Pomona-Pitzer is back in action on Saturday for a road game at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, beginning at 7 p.m.