Last season, the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer team stunned Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a 3-1 victory. However, the Saghens lost their final game of that season 3-2 to the Stags and, as a result, CMS won the SCIAC championship and catapulted itself into the NCAA playoffs with the SCIAC’s automatic bid. So while P-P may have reclaimed the Golden Boot trophy awarded to the winner of the Claremont Colleges grudge match as a result of the Sagehen’s superior goal differential, the trophy was little consolation for the loss of the SCIAC championship trophy. As P-P discovered, there is little difference between finishing second and finishing last.

Wednesday’s match between P-P (7-5 overall, 6-2 SCIAC) and CMS had the air of a role reversal about it. The Stags had defeated the Sagehens 3-1 at P-P on September 15. Furthermore, this second match, played at CMS, found the Sagehens struggling to keep itself in the championship hunt while CMS was 13-0 overall (8-0 in SCIAC play) and ranked #4 in the national Division III poll. If last season was any indicator, the Stags were in trouble.

Indeed, P-P proved itself the stronger team in a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory–its sixth straight SCIAC victory and fourth overtime game of the season. Captain Andrew Watkins ’03 headed a corner from Mario Velez ’04 into the net, and Matt Lee-Ashley ’04 scored a spectacular goal in the overtime period–his team-leading ninth of the season. Yet, despite strong play up front, it was Jay Schneider ’04 who can easily be singled out as the man of the match.

Indeed, the only goal scored against Schneider was an unfortunate own-goal with 30 seconds to play in the match that deflected off the foot of P-P defender Alex Pickrell ’05 following a scramble in the penalty box off one of several controversial throw-ins by CMS midfielder Shaun Mutch ’05–Mutch’s long throws involve an illegal twisting action that spins the ball into the air, and on this particular throw Mutch clearly lifted his leg off the ground before releasing the ball.

Schneider made four key saves, along with a host of lesser ones, to keep the Sagehens ahead. When Mutch hit a point blank shot off of a cross that should have amounted to an easy goal, Schneider sprinted across his line and took the shot off his chest and then quickly grabbed the loose rebound. Later in the game, Schneider made a wild kick save on a shot taken just 8 yards from the goal.

"Our goalkeeper played very well and confidently," said Coach Bill Swartz. "He made all the saves that he had to make."

Still, despite Schneider’s brilliant play, P-P needed a little bit of luck to escape with the victory: two CMS shots hit the crossbar and bounced away, and CMS midfielder Harry Arthur ’03 blew two nearly-open net shots.

CMS goaltender Jamey Harding ’04–a significant factor in CMS’s September 15 victory and last season’s first team all-SCIAC goalkeeper–seemed to be of little consequence in Wednesday’s match. Pomona-Pitzer managed to play several balls across the six-yard box which barely missed the goal. Rodolfo "Netza" Bravo ’04 nearly put the Sagehens up 2-0 when he dribbled into the penalty area from the left side and then deked Harding. Bravo’s centering pass towards the penalty-mark was just barely cleared by a sliding CMS defender, but Bravo nevertheless made a statement with his attack.

Watkins’s goal early in the first half was typical of P-P, a team that consistently scores shortly after the game has begun. Nonetheless, the Sagehens have had difficulty maintaining their aggression, and they have often found these early goals were not enough to win a game, as was evidenced in Wednesday’s performance.

Moreover, P-P’s quick score against La Verne Saturday, October 6, was countered by the Leopards so that, at the half, the game was tied at one goal apiece. Although P-P broke Saturday’s game open in the second half and won 5-1, the lack of heart that seems so apparent following an early goal did pose a threat.

Thus it was a welcome surprise of sorts when, against CMS, the Sagehens continued to fight hard to the end, especially considering that a factor in the season’s earlier loss to the Stags can, in part, be attributed to a deficiency in P-P’s work ethic. The late goal may have been disappointing, but it was in no way a result of apathetic play; in fact, the goal late goal was a fluke that only inspired the Sagehens to play harder.

Lee-Ashley’s goal was one of the season’s most remarkable shots. A CMS defender was whistled for a handball some 30 yards from the goal. Lee-Ashley aimed his free-kick–placed just a little to the shooter’s left from the center of the field–over the four man wall, but his shot was hit low and hit one of the defenders in the wall. The rebound went straight back to Lee-Ashley, a right-footer, who fired a waist-high left-footed volley into the lower right corner of the goal. Harding’s reaction was delayed, for the shot went through a crowd that clearly had screened his vision.

While CMS players walked off the field with despondent faces, the navy blue clad P-P players stormed the field and chased Lee-Ashley, who was in the midst of a victory lap. Many of the nearly one hundred Sagehen supporters joined in the on-field celebration and raised Lee-Ashley over their heads.

"There was so much heart out there," said Lee-Ashley. "We played tough defense, and everyone deserves a lot of credit."

Of his goal, Lee-Ashley said, "it felt pretty damn good." He added that the goal may be one of the most important of his career.

Bravo commented that it was great to have so many fans at the game, but that he hopes there will be "even more for our upcoming game against Redlands. I think it’s great having our friends and family come out, and they help us play better. They help us pick up the intensity."

Had the Sagehens lost, it could easily be said that this start to the second half of the SCIAC schedule would mark the end of their season. As it is, P-P is a strong contender for the SCIAC championship and is currently third in the standings. The team’s next match is Saturday against second-place Redlands, to whom P-P lost 4-1 at Redlands on September 19. A win would give the Sagehens a serious shot at the crown; a loss could dash their chances completely.

As Coach Swartz put things, the win "was just one out of seven in this second half of the season. Both us and Redlands are a game behind Claremont, and so we have to stay focused and get ready for Saturday’s game against Redlands."

For now, however, P-P can relish its solid performance against the soon-to-be-not-#4-in-the-nation Stags. While CMS may have won back the Golden Boot, P-P may be on its way to something of a bit more consequence: a SCIAC crown and an NCAA tournament berth.

Saturday, October 6, the Sagehens traveled to La Verne to take on the Leopards. At halftime, each team had tallied one goal, but in the second half the Sagehens dominated, scoring four goals. Mario Velez ’04 netted two, and Matt Lee-Ashley ’04, Alex Pickrell ’05, and Scott Coleman ’05 each scored one. Lee-Ashley’s goal was his eighth of the season.

The game–which was P-P’s fifth straight SCIAC win after starting the season 0-2 in the conference–ended prematurely after defender Patrick Sullivan ’05 suffered a concussion. Sullivan was shoved to the ground by a La Verne attacker near the sideline where La Verne’s baseball field overlaps the soccer field. The hard dirt infield combined with the force of the push to send Sullivan tumbling head over heels. He came off the field but later reentered the game.

Later, while sitting on the sidelines, Sullivan began having headaches and difficulties with his vision. An ambulance was called and, in compliance with an NCAA rule that a game may not be postponed for more than seven minutes, both team’s coaches agreed to call the game with twenty-plus minutes to play. Sullivan recovered from his injury, though, as of this printing, he has not practiced nor played in any games since the incident.