Leopards battle Sagehens to scoreless tie

Darnell Gilbert
Staff Writer

In a pair of games dominated by defense, the University of La Verne women’s soccer team fell to the Redlands Bulldogs, 2-1, Wednesday night in Redlands and tied the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 0-0, last Saturday afternoon in La Verne.

The two teams combined for two yellow cards, 22 shots and 47 fouls in the scoreless double overtime game last Saturday against the Sagehens at Ben Hines Field.

La Verne had several opportunities to win the game.
Rebecca Berry, who had four shot attempts, led the offensive charge for the Leopards.

The Leopards had seven different players take shots, including Chelsea Riggins with two attempts and Nataly Clavel with one.

“We had good transition but we couldn’t finish and get the goal,” midfielder Katie Ford said.

The Sagehens had three attempts in overtime to capture the win but goalkeeper Lauren Britt stopped all three attempts.

Britt finished the game with four saves.

This was one of the most physical games of the season for both the Leopards and Sagehens.

Clavel receive a questionable yellow card, but wasn’t ejected from the game.

“We are known as an aggressive team so sometimes the referees are quick to give cautions,” defender Mercedes Bermudez said.

With the tie, the University of La Verne’s record now stands at (3-2-2, 0-0-1). Pomona-Pitzer’s record now stands at (3-3-1, 0-1-1).

The Leopards continue action at 11 a.m. tomorrow against Occidental in Los Angeles.

Occidental is known to be a physical and aggressive team.

“Occidental is real aggressive, to win we must be mentally and physically prepared,” junior Amber Lejay said. “We can’t let them push us around.”

Darnell Gilbert can be reached at flawlessgee@yahoo.com.