Tigers Get Upper Hand in Battle with Poets
WHITTIER, Calif. (Sept. 17 2008) – A battle on the soccer field ended with a 4-2 victory thanks in large part to senior Fran Taylor who recorded a hat trick as the Occidental College Tigers defeated Whittier College in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Oxy struck first when Taylor scored on a feed from sophomore Rob Riccardi in the 19th minute of action.
Whittier countered with a score of their own in the 20th minute to knot the game at 1-1. The Poets took advantage of a penalty kick opportunity in the 38th minute, taking a temporary 2-1 lead.
Sophomore Deryck Lim used an assist from freshman Nitzan Sherman to bring the Tigers back even going into half time.
While the Oxy defense held Whittier scoreless in the second half, Taylor added another pair of goals, the first on an assist from Lim in the 77th minute and the second in the final minute of play on an assist from freshman Skylar Roush to solidify the victory.
Ian Powell made four saves in front of the goal as his counterpart Michael Read made three stops for the Poets.
Occidental improves to 1-2 overall and holds a 1-0 SCIAC record while the Poets fall to 1-4, 0-1.
The Tigers will be back on the field Saturday, Sept. 20 when they travel to the University of La Verne to play the Leopards at 11:00 a.m.
