CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Lacrosse team started their season strong with a 17-7 win over Occidental in their first SCIAC game of the season on Wednesday night at Merritt Field. 
  
Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens start their season 1-0 overall and 1-0 in SCIAC play. 
  
The Sagehens were led by Maria Favret, who scored four goals while Caili Cross earned a hat-trick scoring three. Also contributing to the win, Madeleine Trapp, Catherine Faucette, and Piper Higgins each netted two and Gwynn Sullivan, Maihue Miranda Wiltberger, Carly Katzman, and River Buechner each scored one. 
 
The Sagehens started strong in the first quarter and established an early lead. Favret netted the first goal of the match with 13:16 left on the clock. Wiltberger, Cross and Sullivan followed with four more goals for the Sagehens. Notably, Cross scored two back-to-back goals, one with 2:06 and a free position goal with 1:19 left in the period. Pomona-Pitzer furthered their early-established lead and concluded the first period leading 5-0. The Sagehens continued to bring the heat through the rest of the first half. Higgins started the scoring for this quarter with two back-to-back goals, one with 14:29 and the other with 13:17 left on the clock. Key goals from Trapp, Favret, and Cross widened the score gap. Pomona-Pitzer entered halftime with a striking 11-0 lead over The Tigers.
  
The Sagehens maintained their energy into the third period as they continued pressuring the Occidental defenses. Katzman started the scoring in the second half by scoring a free position goal with 13:10 left on the clock. Buechner and Faucette followed suit and each then netted a goal. Occidental began to find their footing and broke through the Pomona-Pitzer defenses, but the Sagehens did not back down. Favret replied with another goal, her fourth of this game, with 2:10 left on the clock. While Occidental did find another goal, Pomona-Pitzer kept their lead 15-2 as they entered the final period. The Tigers started to play catch up in the fourth quarter and narrowed the score gap with four goals. Faucette responded by continuing the Sagehen lead and scoring a goal with 3:13 left on the clock. While Occidental attempted to further lessen Pomona-Pitzer's lead, Trapp earned a last-minute goal on a man-advantage with 0:09 left on the clock. Thanks to a strong effort on all fronts, the Sagehens closed out their first SCIAC game of the season with a 17-7 win over Occidental.  

 
Up Next: The Sagehens will next play against Chapman in Orange, California on Wednesday, February 25th at 7:00 p.m.