Season Slide Continues for Sagehen Soccer as Women Fall to Redlands 2-0
By Natalie Smith
Sports Writer

Tough losses seem to be a current status-quo for the Pomona-Pitzer women's soccer team, but they haven't given up yet. Last Wednesday proved to be very mentally difficult for the Hens. Going against the defending SCIAC champions, University of Redlands, the Sagehens displayed a strong defense in the beginning of the game. While managing minimal offensive play, the Sagehen defense stayed solid under the leaadership of Pitzer junior Cora "Hardcora" Forsten.

Coach Eli Koenn-Bollinger said of the Redlands game, "We started off really strong and pretty much scared Redlands because they couldn't put the ball in the net." Redlands held their own for the majority of the first half when, with six minutes remaining in the half, the Redlands Bulldogs shot the ball past starting goalkeeper Alison "The Wall" Mathes '05.

Koenn-Bollinger noted that this first half goal "hurt our confidence level. If we could have held them to a 0-0 tie at halftime then the dynamic of the game would have different. I don't think we would have allowed that second goal."

Unfortunately, the Sagehens did give up that second goal in the second half, ending the game with a disappointing 2-0 loss. The offense was shut out almost completely by the Redlands defense with only a few shots on goal. On the other side of the field, Mathes made eight saves in the game.

Koenn-Bollinger believes "we were producing a strong defensive front - which was our goal for the game," until the first goal was put in.

On Saturday, the Sagehens traveled to California Lutheran University for their fourth game in one week. Cal Lutheran wasted no time on the attack. In only the sixth minute of play, the Regals slotted the ball into the back of the net.

Koenn-Bollinger said, "it was a shock to our system. It was an emotional beating. We knew mentally we were a better team, but our minds and our bodies weren't working together."

Taken aback by the sudden goal, the Sagehens pushed hard to get their footing in the game. Unable to remain strong until the end of the half, the Sagehens slipped up and gave Cal Lu the opportunity to make the score 2-0. Knowing the most vulnerable time for a team is the five minutes after the opposition scores, Cal Lu pressed harder and managed to get the ball into the net with less than one minute remaining. The halftime score of 3-0 put a mental strain on the Sagehens, but they were determined to make the second half better.

The offensive opportunities for the Sagehens were not limited . The Cal Lu goalie was forced to make some amazing saves on shots by Ashley Thompson '03, Izzy "The Tree" Smith '05 and many others. Unfortunately, while the Sagehens struggled to get the ball past the Regal goalie, the Cal Lu offense found the back of the net only four minutes into the second half.

Afterward, the Sagehens picked up their intensity and held off Cal Lu while also creating some scoring chances of their own. Goalie and field-player Caitlin Barrett '06 manned the nets in the second half, giving starting keeper Mathes a break. Ending the game with 17 shots, the Sagehens went away disappointed with another loss.

With a bye this Wednesday, the women's soccer team plans to get ready for the SCIAC match against Occidental on Saturday. Koenn-Bollinger says, "If we come out strong against Oxy and play our game we will get the end result that we want. If we go through the process, we will get the win. However, if we aren't on top of our game and we let Oxy's traditional physical presence become our focus, we will struggle. We have to make sure that we are on top of our game."