Men's Soccer Shuts Out La Verne, Beats Occidental in Final Games
By Joey Richards
Sports Writer

Wrapping up their season with two victories this week, the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer team finished with a respectable but disappointing 9-5 record in SCIAC.

The team had high hopes of challenging Redlands and CMS for the conference title at the beginning of the season but finished a frustrating fourth, a mere half game behind Cal Lutheran. P-P has finished third in SCIAC for five straight years, and the slip is therefore very dissapointing.

“Finishing fourth in the conference has to be the most disappointing thing this season. We just didn’t score many goals in big games,” said forward Scott Coleman ’05.

Crippling the team’s chances for a SCIAC title was a three-game losing streak at the beginning of conference play. The Hens found it tough to gain any momentum after such a start.

During the skid, the squad lost consecutive matches to CMS (3-1), Redlands (3-1) and Cal Lu (2-1).

The team finished strongly however, winning eight of their final ten games for an 11-8 overall record (9-5 in SCIAC). The record is a step back from last season’s impressive 13-6 mark (11-3, third place in SCIAC).

This week, the Sagehens notched a pair of shut-outs against SCIAC foes La Verne and Occidental.

On Monday, P-P dominated La Verne en route to a 7-0 thrashing. The Hens scored five second-half goals, and dictated play the entire afternoon.

Forward Joe Amick ’05 notched a hat trick, while midfielder Netza Bravo ’04 added two goals of his own.

Wednesday, the Sagehens held a slim 1-0 lead at the half, but scored three second-half goals for a 4-0 win. Bravo tallied two more goals, while midfielder Matt Lee-Ashley ’04 and forward Wyatt Wells ’03 each scored once.

However, Cal Lutheran hung on to third place by splitting its two games this week with a loss to CMS and victory against Whittier.

The two most disappointing losses for the Hens were a pair of one-goal losses to Cal Lu. On October 5, P-P fell 2-1 to the Kingsmen, and lost a 1-0 heartbreaker on October 30.

“Our first Cal Lu loss was a back-breaker,” said Coleman.

Both Cal Lu matches came after consecutive games against CMS and Redlands, the toughest two SCIAC teams. The defeats were due in part to probable let-downs after those emotional games.

“We had some problems with execution during that stretch. We just didn’t come out for the big games,” said Coleman.

However, the team did earn a split with CMS this year, winning the second game in dramatic fashion, 2-1.

The score was tied 1-1 after regulation and in the majority of the two overtime periods neither team could find the back of the net.

Then, with under 30 seconds left in the second and final OT period, Amick corralled a long ball, passed to Lee-Ashley, who promptly led Coleman with a perfect break-away pass.

With a mere 14 seconds left on the clock, Coleman hit a low shot past the keeper for the game-winner.

“I’ll remember that goal for a long time. But it was our defense and mid-field that won the game for us. They put us in the position to win,” said Coleman.

Now the team will start looking forward to next year, which has the potential to be the most promising year in a long time for the men’s soccer program.

Fortunately, The Hens will lose only two starters to graduation: defensemen Ian Preikschat and Ray Pearl.

At the same time, next year’s team appears to look strong, as six of this year’s starters will be seniors next season: goalkeeper Jay Schneider, defenseman An-Yen Hu and midfielders Bravo, Lee-Ashley, Mario Velez and Ryan Takeshita.

“We have to stay positive after this season because we have the core of the team back next year,” said Coleman.

“We are one of the best teams [in SCIAC], we just have to put it together,” .