Pomona-Pitzer pounces past ULV

Alexandra de Leon
Staff Writer

The La Verne women’s soccer team fell short to the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 3-1, Wednesday at Ortmayer Stadium.

La Verne is now 5-3-1 overall and 3-2 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Leopards were in first place going into the game, but head coach Lauryn Pehanich said she had no worries about rankings.

“It feels great to be on top, but we have 10 games and when you’re on the top it’s hard to stay there,” Pehanich said. “We just need to go back to us.”

Early in the first half of the game, junior forward Danika Bethune scored the Sagehens’ first goal in the 15th minute.

Bethune kicked the ball past La Verne freshman goalkeeper Jasmine Valadez and into the upper-left corner, to take a 1-0 lead.

The Leopards answered back with a goal to finish the end of the first half.

La Verne senior midfielder Kelsea Varner assisted senior forward Tatiana Raygoza to tie the game at one, as the goal went past Pomona-Pitzer senior goalkeeper Annie Wedel.

In the second half, the Sagehens managed to put more pressure on the Leopards, shifting the momentum.

Pomona-Pitzer broke the tie in the 49th minute, when Bethune kicked the ball into the goal off a corner kick.

“We’re at that point in the season where our defense is good, our connecting is good,” Raygoza said. “We just need to finish (the plays) and capitalize on opportunities.”

The last goal by Pomona-Pitzer was scored by junior midfielder Katie Tao in the 57th minute of the game, as she buried a free kick past Valadez, putting the Sagehens up by two.

The Leopards attempted to answer back, with goal attempts made by Varner, senior midfielder Maribel Duran and senior defender Lauren Toneck.

La Verne’s shots were wide off the goal, as the Sagehens took home the win.

Despite the loss, Valadez managed to protect the net from the Sagehens’ strong offense throughout the game.

She made five saves.

“We need to work on working together and communicating more since we didn’t really click today,” Valadez said. “Just keep up the hard work, since we did work hard all the way through.”

The Leopards will return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday, hosting the Redlands Bulldogs at Ortmayer Stadium.

Alexandra de Leon can be reached at alexandra.deleon@laverne.edu.

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