Women's Soccer Slips Past La Verne 1-0
By Natalie Smith
Sports Associate

The smiles of relief could not be wiped off the faces of the P-P women’s soccer team on Monday when they won their first SCIAC game of the season. After an agonizing loss to CMS the previous Saturday, the 1-0 win over La Verne was well deserved.

Last Saturday, the Sagehens were primed to beat CMS, but were still outdone by their opponents. P-P’s archrivals found the back of the net during the first half. Never giving up, the Sagehens took control of the game during the second half freshman. Anna Rennery ’06 shot the ball into the net with assists from Katherine Moskop ’06 and Sarah Staller ‘04. Later in the half, Moskop scored a beautiful goal off a pass by Renery, which should have won the game. Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t completely contain the CMS offense and they managed another goal against the Sagehens, tying up the score.

The intensity of play increased as time wound down, but the score remained tied and the game moved into overtime. In the opening moments of overtime, Staller shot a high ball at an open CMS goal, but a CMS defender managed to head the ball away. Three-and-a-half minutes in, disaster struck when a CMS player broke through the defense and shot past Sagehen goalie Alison Mathes ’05, winning the game for the Athenas.

Heartbroken by the loss, P-P looked for revenge in their makeup game with La Verne. Well aware of La Verne’s reputation for scrappy play, the Sagehens prepared to be more aggressive. The first half was a battle with many shots taken by La Verne, but the Sagehen defense, backed by sweeper Aliza Norwood ’05 let nothing come of it. Later in the first half, the team began to find their footing and started peppering the La Verne goal with shots. At half-time the score was still 0-0, and the Sagehens knew if they could continue dominating possession, they could win the game.

P-P took possession of the ball for most of the second half, with only a few offensive opportunities given to La Verne. On one free kick Staller received a yellow card for not giving the kicker the allotted 10 yards as quickly as the referee wished. The fouls were evenly distributed between both teams, however, with the Sagehens refusing to back down in the face of La Verne’s physical play.

Showing how vital the depth of the P-P bench is during their games, super-sub Kate Sunquist ‘04 found a perfect opportunity to give the Sagehens their first conference win. With approximately twenty minutes left in the second half, Staller passed the ball to co-captain Ashley Thompson ’03. She gave a lovely through-ball to Sunquist, who sped past the last defender and dribbled around the La Verne goalie to pass the ball into the net. The Sagehens continued to maintain possession, challenging the La Verne defense.

La Verne was handed a chance to tie up the game when a foul was called inside the box, giving them a penalty kick. Sagehen goalie Mathes set herself up in preparation to stop the shot, but the La Verne kicker shot the ball high above the goal. The Sagehens maintained their lead and won their first conference game.

“The La Verne win boosted our confidence. We played a strong defensive game and had a beautiful combination for the goal Kate Sundquist scored,” Coach Eli Koen-Bollinger said. With three games this week, the La Verne win was an encouraging start. This week the Sagehens will play against two very tough teams, the University of Redlands and Cal Lutheran.

“P-P has improved tremendously since last season. Our scores against La Verne, Redlands, and Cal Lu were not impressive last year. However, we're looking to be closer competitors with Redlands and Cal Lu this year,” Koen-Bollinger said.