Tigers Open Season with Two Wins

ORANGE, Calif. (Feb. 28, 2008) – The last day of the month marked the first day of the 2009 women’s water polo season for Occidental College. The Tigers opened the two-day Chapman Tournament with a pair of victories to dive into the competition pool head first.

In the first game of the day  the #7 Tigers came-from-behind to upset #2 Cal State East Bay 9-8 when freshman Tessa Bailey-Findley scored with :09 seconds remaining in regulation to cap off a hat-trick in her Tigers debut.

Occidental (2-0)  trailed throughout, but the spread was never more than three.East Bay built leads of 4-1, 5-2, and 8-5 early in the final quarter before Oxy scored four unanswered goals to win the game. 

Sophomore Karie Nickle scored her second goal of the game on a power play with six minutes left in the fourth quarter to cut the Pioneer lead to two. Two minutes later Sophomore Perla Alamarz notched her first goal with an outside shot as the shot clock expired, to put Oxy within a goal. Two minutes after that, it was Alamaraz again, this time on a lob from the perimeter to tie the game at eight. 

The two teams would trade possessions before Oxy got the ball back with 30 seconds to play. After a time out, Tiger senior Kelly Curtin drew an exclusion to give the Tigers a power play opportunity. A few passes later was when Bailey-Findley found the back of the net. 

Also adding to the Oxy offense were Julie Monday and Rebecca Hofer, with a goal apiece. Bailey-Findlay, Almaraz, Hofer, Nickle and Ashley Notti were each credited with an assist as well.

In front of the cage Laura Simanonok made 13 saves.

East Bay  (2-8) came into the match ranked #2 in the nation amongst NCAA Division III Teams while the Tigers are ranked #7 coming into first game of 2009.

In the afternoon, the Tigers jumped back in the pool where they cruised past #10 Grove City College 11-4. Occidental jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period of play and continued to build throughout the game.

The Tigers press defense produced 11 steals, including one apiece from freshmen Corinne Casey and Helen Zukin, while fellow classmate, goalie, Andrea Savage made 12 saves in her Oxy debut, adding an assist.

Offensively Nickle led all players with four goals, adding a team leading four steals and two assists while Bailey-Findley notched her second hat-trick of the game while dishing out two assists. Monday and Almaraz also pitched in on the offensive end with two goals apiece while the senior pair of Curtain and Notti each finished with an assist. Curtin and Monday each added three steals.

Tomorrow the Tigers will return to Chapman where they will open up against SCIAC rival and #1 ranked Pomona-Pitzer at 10:30 a.m. before closing out the weekend against Division II Cal State San Bernardino at 3:00 p.m.