The temperature approached 90 degrees last Saturday as Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps mens’ soccer teams battled for early dominance in the SCIAC. The only things missing from the game were decent shade and, perhaps, a snack bar.

With fans from both schools out in force in an early show of school spirit that may or may not turn into Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ trademark apathy by midseason, campus administrators and officials must, at least for the time being, consider the addition of a fieldside refreshment stand or, better yet, a vendor to work the crowd with cold drinks and licorice ropes.

My thirst aside, the game was won by CMS, 3-1. Matt Lee-Ashley ’04 fans were out in full force that day, and he didn’t disappoint, getting Pomona off to a hot start with a goal early in the first half off an assist by Mario Valdes ’04.

Fame is short lived, however, and C-M-S battled right back with a goal, dead center, that sent P-P’s goalie Jay Schneider ’04 diving back into his own net, doing anything he could to keep the ball out, but it seemed to float through the defense in agonizing slow motion, and into the back of the goal.

Nearing the end of the first half, C-M-S scored again on a goal that I heard one fan call "a gift" from the Hens. With the score now 2-1, you could see the spirit of Cecil the Sagehen begin to languish under the hot California sun.

The second half started where the first left off, with a sensational header into the upper 90 off a throw-in, not two minutes into play.

Despite a 3-1 C-M-S advantage, P-P fans were soon rejuvenated by the heated ejection of a Claremont-Mudd-Scripps player who kicked P-P’s midfielder Richard Cannon ‘05. This once again proves that one man’s suffering can unite a whole people.

Following the red card, the Hens began dominating the attack. However, about this time C-M-S goalie Jamie Harding ‘04 - a member of last year’s first team all SCIAC lineup - began stopping shots as often as the Fed cuts interest rates. Despite donning a far inferior goalie’s uniform and not even tucking in his jersey, he was the only thing standing between the resurgent P-P attack and a goal.

"We just didn’t get the ball in the goal. You can’t give up three goals at this level of competition and expect to win. Our heads weren’t in it today," said Coach Bill Swartz after the game. "There is a long season ahead of us, and we must improve."

If any one factor could be pointed to as the main problem with the Sagehens’ play, it would have been the lack of heart. P-P was playing its most solid soccer all season until it scored. Following Lee-Ashley’s goal, the team seemed to lose much of its intensity.

So as our fleet-footed warriors work out the early kinks, let we, as fans, show our continuing support and perhaps, in doing so, us can convince Pomona to improve all our lives with a refreshment stand (or maybe even a vendor).