THOUSAND OAKS, CA. – Senior Hope Grant scored the game-winning goal with 30 seconds left in overtime as the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Water Polo team defeated Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent Cal Lutheran 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon at the Samuelson Aquatics Center.
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens have now won their third-straight conference game and improve to 12-17 overall and 5-1 in SCIAC play.
The Sagehens were led by junior Morgan McCracken who had her first hat trick of the year as she tallied a game-high three goals in the win.
Senior Ahsha Earwood earned the win for the Sagehens as she tallied four saves to go along with two steals.
The Regals were led by Christin Hirn who netted a team-high two goals in the loss for Cal Lutheran.
McCracken got going early in the first as she scored the first goal of the game off of an assist from senior Christina Williamson to give the Sagehens a 1-0 lead with 6:38 left in the first quarter.
Pomona-Pitzer added one more as sophomore Natalie Hill scored off of an assist from McCracken but the Regals ended the quarter with a goal to cut the lead down to 2-1 heading into the second.
The defenses turned up in the second as only one goal was scored between the two teams with the Regals finding the back of the net with just 30 seconds left in the half to even the score at 2-2 heading into halftime.
The Sagehens came out and took an early lead in the second half as junior Jocelyn Castro netted a goal off of an assist from Williamson but the Regals answered with two-straight goals to end the third to take their first lead of the game at 4-3 heading into the fourth.
Earwood and the Sagehens defense stayed solid in the fourth as they held the Regals scoreless throughout the quarter. Pomona-Pitzer was able to even the score as McCracken scored her second goal of the afternoon off of a pass from Hill to tie the score at 4-4 and send the game into overtime.
Both teams went scoreless in the first overtime period but McCracken opened up the overtime scoring as she netted a goal with 2:15 left in the second overtime to give the Sagehens a 5-4 lead.
Cal Lutheran came back with just 49 seconds remaining to tie the game at 5-5 but the Sagehens responded just 20 seconds later as Grant scored the game-winner to secure the third-straight conference win for Pomona-Pitzer.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next travel to UC San Diego on Saturday, April 8th at 12:00 p.m.
