Oxy Seals Third Place Finish with Win Over Redlands

CLAREMONT, Calif. (April 24, 2009) – After a victory on day one of the 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference water polo tournament, Occidental fell short of advancing to the championship game as they fell to No. 2 seeded Pomona-Pitzer 9-6 on Saturday afternoon. On the third and final day of competition the Tigers prevailed in the water, defeating the University of Redlands, 6-5, in a thrilling yet low scoring affair at Axelrod Pool.

The game was tied at 5-5 with 2:16 to play in regulation and a drawn ejection coupled with a pair of timeouts allowed the Tigers to set their play, getting the ball to center Julie Monday who found the back of the net with just 38 seconds to play. Oxy was able to hold their ground as time ticked down, earning a one-goal win and a third place finish in the conference standings.

The teams exchanged goals in the opening stanza and did the same in the second quarter, entering halftime knotted at 2-2. Monday gave the Tigers a one-goal advantage after three and Kelly Curtain extended the lead to 4-2 with 7:00 to play in the final period.

UR and Oxy combined for six goals in the fourth quarter as UR scored two unanswered goals after Oxy opened a two-goal lead. Monday’s second of the game put the black and orange up 5-4, but the Bulldogs counterattacked with one of their own.

Tigers’ goalie Laura Simanonok made nine saves to protect the Oxy lead. While Karie Nickle was limited to just one goal she pitched in with three steals, a field block, two drawn ejections and two assists. Tessa Bailey-Findley came away with a pair of assists and a pair of steals.

Monday was the only player to score more than once with Corrine Casey adding the final goal of the game for Oxy.

Yesterday the Tigers fell 9-6 to the Sagehens in game two. Casey paced the offense with two goals and Nickle added a goal with two assists. Curtain drew three ejections, also scoring once and dishing out an assist.

Defensively Nickle made five steals with two field blocks while Curtain and Bailey-Findley added two steals apiece. Simanonok made 13 blocks.

In the SCIAC Championship game Pomona-Pitzer fell 8-7 to top seeded Cal Lutheran, which gave CLU its first title in the six year history of the program. The Regals also earned an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held at the University of Maryland the second weekend in May.

Both Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental punched tickets to the Collegiate III National Water Polo Tournament that will be held at Cal Lutheran Friday-Sunday, May 1-3. Oxy is slated to kick off the tournament against Grove City College at 9:20 a.m. on Friday, followed by a 4:40 p.m. game against Macalester College. Saturday the Tigers will face off with the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs at noon with the remainder of the weekend schedule to be determined by their success in the opening three games. All games will take place at the Samuelson Aquatics Center.

Earlier this season Oxy defeated Grove City 11-4 and Macalester 14-5 but have yet to face UCSC in the pool.