WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 4, 2025) – Junior goalkeeper Sofia Lopez (Orange, Calif. / Foothill / Cypress College) led the Whittier College women's soccer team to its third clean sheet in as many games, this time against No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on an exciting soccer Saturday.

Defensively, the Poets have settled in this year, using both starting goalkeepers with effectiveness as senior Mya Rodriguez (Visalia, Calif. / El Diamante / College of the Sequoias) is coming off a clean sheet of her own. Lopez had to navigate one of the most talented attacking corps in the conference making seven saves while working perfectly in tandem with the defense in front of her. 

Senior defender Emma Tumbarello (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. / Rancho Cucamonga) led the Whittier back line, and contributed one of the Poets' best scoring chances of the match on an attempted header in the box off a corner kick from classmate Alanis Cervantes (La Habra, Calif. / La Habra). Cervantes, herself, had a key scoring chance for the Poets in the second half of Saturday's SCIAC game on an attempted header of her own that would be blocker by the Sagehens' defense, but the other two key Whittier chances came with the aid of the elements.

The Poets played the entire second half with the wind to their back and took advantage with freshman Isabella Menes (Long Beach, Calif. / Millikan / Loyola Marymount University) firing a deep shot the Sagehens' keeper was barely able to knock away, while junior Nena Saldivar (San Diego, Calif. / Monta Vista / San Diego Miramar) fired off a similar shot that came inches away from connecting with the top left corner of the post. 

Head Coach Derek Hanks and the Poets will return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 8 when they host California Lutheran University at 4 p.m.

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