Box Score WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Women's Soccer saw their Faculty Appreciation Night spoiled by Occidental College Tigers Wednesday night as they fell 1-0 at the Donald E. Graham Soccer Field.
Prior to the start of the game Head Coach Monica Gerardo and the rest of the Women's Soccer team recognized Melanie Householder and Jenny Davies who with their efforts made them better student-athletes both in and outside of the classroom.
Melanie Householder has been a faculty member of the Kinesiology & Nutrition Science Dept. at Whittier College since 2006. She is a Poet alumna who majored in Biology. Melanie also has degrees in Nursing, and is a California Registered Nurse, as well as, a Master's in Biology with a concentration on Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Human Health.
Jenny Davies works with City of Hope and San Gabriel Valley's Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) in the Duarte Unified School District where she assists in science lessons to engage children in STEM education. Her postdoctoral work at the Department of Tumor Cell Biology at City of Hope investigated metabolism in melanoma and melanoma drug resistant cells. Davies earned her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular pathology from the University of California, Los Angeles where she was a teaching assistant in molecular biology. She received a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of Southern California.
The Purple & Gold controlled every facet of the game outshooting Oxy 17-13 and holding a 4-0 edge on corner kicks but fell unfortunate on a crucial call late in the second half. In the 79th minute, Julie Khil was able to sneak behind the back line beating one defender, who thought the play was going to be stopped dead due to an offsides, but play continued as Khil was able to gather the ball in the box and flick it over Alexi Cruz (Long Beach, Calif.) who came out high to force Khil into a tough angle.
This lead would hold despite Whittier putting two good looks on frame from Miranda Yzabal (Whittier, Calif.) and Jenna Muise (Chino Hills, Calif.) who both looked for the equalizer.
Lauren Kai (Torrance, Calif.) proved tough to stop all night collecting two shots with both being on goal before she came down with an injury late in the second half. She opened up the barrage of shots by Whittier four minutes in forcing Dallas Gunny to come up with an early save. In the 26th minute Andrea Aldama (Gardena, Calif.) took a long range shot and bent it in but it would just miss wide right. Kai came up with another shot soon after and forced Gunny into another save, which she poked high over the crossbar keeping the game scoreless.
Cruz would complete three straight saves in a minute's time right before the half turning away Alan Hillman and Erin Lacullo and Aubrey Baran (La Mirada, Calif.) would take the final strike with under a minute to play but Gunny again would come up with a big save.
Oxy switched goalies in the second half to Sydney Tomlinson but she kept the scoreless game intact and she was tested. The Poets opened up the frame with four shots in eight minutes. They kept the momentum in their favor throughout as Yzabal would connect on another two shots, while Leah Kolek (Diamond Bar, Calif.) would unleash a shot in the box point blank that she drove right at Tomlinson.
Cruz finished the game with six saves against seven shots. Kolek, Yzabal, and Aldama each finished with three shots, while Kai and Baran each registered two.
Whittier remains at home this Saturday, October 1 as they host Claremont-M-S beginning at 7:00pm.
