CLAREMONT, CA. – The Sagehens celebrated a pair of wins after they defeated SCIAC opponent Caltech 23-5 and non-conference opponent Biola 11-9 on Saturday afternoon at Haldeman Pool.
Season Impact: With the wins, the Sagehens improve to 10-9 overall and 2-0 in SCIAC play.
Pomona-Pitzer 23, Caltech 5
The Sagehens were led by Ayva Magna who went for a game-high seven goals in the win. Lauren Smith put in five, Mia Amberger had four and Lauren Valentin had three as four Sagehens registered hat-tricks in the win.
Pomona-Pitzer got the scoring going early after they scored six in the first quarter alone. The Sagehens started off with the first four goals of the day after Smith, Magna and Bella McGowan scored to go up 4-0. The Beavers got their first goal of the game to cut it to 4-1, but the Sagehens ended the first with two more from Magna and Amberger to end the first up 6-1.
The Sagehens had their lowest scoring quarter of the game with four goals in the second while the Beavers had their best quarter with just one fewer than Pomona-Pitzer at 3. Smith and Magna got the scoring going early but the Beavers responded with two of their own to make it 8-3 with 4:25 left before halftime. The two teams alternated goals before halftime with Valentin and Magna scoring to put the Sagehens up 10-4 at halftime.
The Sagehens held the Beavers scoreless in the third while they added six more goals to their total. Smith, Amberger, Magna and Valentin all added goals to put the Sagehens up 16-4 heading into the fourth.
After building a comfortable lead, the Sagehens went on to have their highest scoring quarter of the game with seven more goals in the fourth. Lewis, Amberger, and McGowan put the Sagehens over the 20 mark and Magna netted her seventh to end a high scoring game for the Sagehen offense.
Pomona-Pitzer 11, Biola 9
The Sagehens were led by Szczerba and Mia Amberger who each netted a hat-trick with three goals in the win. Lulu Gaither had a multi-goal game with two while Kaylee Stigar, Madison Lewis, and Namlhun Jachung had one. Zosia Amberger picked up both wins in the cage today as she continues to be a wall in front of the Sagehens' goal. Amberger had 19 saves against the Eagles with one steal.
The Sagehens opened up the game with the first two goals after Gaither netted the first for the Sagehens and Jachung snuck her first goal under the keeper's arms to make it 2-0 early in the first quarter.
The Eagles responded with their first goal off of a powerplay for their first of the afternoon, but the Sagehens stayed on top to end the first up 2-1.
Biola got a 5-meter penalty early in the second quarter to tie it at 2-2 and took their first lead of the game at 3-2 after converting another powerplay with 3:33 left in the second quarter. The Sagehens came back to tie the game at 3-3 after Lewis beat the keeper near post as the two teams went into halftime tied.
The Sagehens scored first out of halftime with a powerplay goal from Szczerba and Szczerba scored again off of a 5-meter penalty to put the Sagehens up two early in the third at 5-3. Biola came back with back-to-back goals to tie at 5-5, but the Sagehens stayed on top with a goal from Stigar off a quick powerplay to make it 6-5 with 4:33 left in the third. The Sagehens continued to take advantage of the powerplay after Amberger scored another for the Sagehens with a person up to take a 7-5 lead and Amberger scored again off of a counterattack to make it 8-5 and forced Biola to take a timeout with 3:17 to go in the third. Pomona-Pitzer added one at the end of the third by Gaither to take a 9-5 lead into the fourth.
The Eagles started to come back against the Sagehens and started the fourth with the first two goals of the quarter to cut the lead down to 9-7, but Szczerba scored a quick goal off of an exclusion to keep the lead at three goals with a 10-7 lead. Amberger added the second-straight goal for the Sagehens to extend the lead to 11-7, but another response from the Eagles with back-to-back goals to cut the lead down to 11-9 with 47 seconds to play. Biola tried to make it a one-goal game but a big defensive stop by the Sagehens secured the win at home.
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Princeton on Wednesday, March 15th at 11:00 a.m.
