Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College women's lacrosse team got a new era started under Head Coach Trish Bonagura Saturday morning as they edged Occidental College 11-10 at Memorial Stadium beating them for the first time since 2011.
The last victory over the Tigers came on April 6, 2011 when the Purple & Gold won on the road 19-13. The last home victory for the Poets over Oxy came the year before in 2010 when they held on for the 15-14 victory in overtime.
Whittier (2-3, 1-3 SCIAC) also got earned their first SCIAC victory at home since 2012 when they beat Pomona-Pitzer 15-10 and this is their first SCIAC victory dating back to 2014 when they beat Claremont-M-S on the road 9-8.
"We started off a little flat in the first half, but after going back to the drawing board and making some adjustments, the girls did a much better job and finished the second half with a lot of hard work and heart," explained Bonagura. "We played with and for each other, and myself and Staci are very proud of them."
Jess Hansen (Seal Beach, Calif.) was fed by Lauren Tudor (Bellevue, Calif.) at the 23:38 mark to put the Purple & Gold on top but the Tigers would go on a 5-2 run to close out the first half to lead 5-3.
In the second, Whittier put together a strong offensive presence pouring in eight goals, which included a 6-1 run right out of the gates. Hansen started things off with a free position goal and Tudor would then go on a tear with three, with two coming on free positions.
Melanie Rizzotti (Mukilteo, WA) added her first of the year coming on a man-up situation and this helped put WC back on top 9-6.
Oxy ended the run with 13:29 to play from Sierra Slack but Tudor again came up big on the Poets next possession with a man-up unassisted goal that moved the deficit back to three at 10-7.
The Tigers however wouldn't go away quietly as they would capitalize on a couple Poet turnovers and a quick shot under five minutes to pull within one. Mackenzie Wright and Madi Hallare would go back-to-back that moved the score to 10-9, Tudor would add her fifth of the game coming on a free position and despite Wright coming up with a goal with 1:23 to play, it wouldn't be enough as WC would hold on for the one goal victory.
Tudor again led the offense with five goals and two assists that went along with six groundballs, six draw controls, and three caused turnovers.
Hansen finished with three goals for the game and Rizzotti would total a goal and six groundballs.
In goal, Madison Topping (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) picked up her third collegiate victory playing all 60 minutes finishing with 10 saves against 20 shots.
Whittier controlled the categories winning the draw controls 14-9, was 11-16 on clear attempts, had 31 groundballs, but the big stat came on free-positions where WC was 5-6.
Whittier returns to action tonight, Monday, March 7 at 7:00pm as they begin their six game non-conference home stand with Gordon.
