LV winning streak of seven halted by Athenas

photo by Christian Velazco

Ashley Polan (No. 6) heads the ball toward the west goal as Andrea Taggart (No. 23) and Monica Martinez (No. 9) assist during Saturday's match against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Leopards were defeated by the Athenas, 2-1.

by Chrissy Zehrbach
Assistant Editor

The University of La Verne women's soccer team closed its season this week with two disappointing Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference losses to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the University of Redlands - two teams they defeated earlier in the season.

After suffering a loss to CMS Saturday morning, the Leopards faced Redlands Wednesday afternoon on the Bulldogs' home field looking for a win.

However, La Verne was unable to repeat the victory it had gained over Redlands in the first round of SCIAC play.

The Bulldogs put themselves on the board within the first five minutes of the game with a goal from Candace Hayward. Lauren Margetic increased Redlands' lead 30 minutes later, bringing the first- half score to 2-0.

The second half saw two more goals for Redlands contributed by Ashley West and Hayward, but none from La Verne as the Leopards were shut out 4-0.

"We played well in spurts," said junior midfielder Amanda Egan. "Let-downs caused goals, and we just couldn't finish on opportunities."

"We let ourselves down after Saturday's loss and didn't play to our full potential," said sophomore halfback AJ Taggart. "It's too bad we had to lose; we wanted to win for pride."

In the game against CMS, the Leopards were the first to score. After 30 minutes of scoreless play, junior forward Ashley Polan took a shot that went over the keeper's head.

For a moment, the shot looked as if it would go wide, but it hit the goal post at just the right angle to bounce in and put La Verne ahead 1-0.

Great Leopard defense held the score for the half.

The Athenas came out in the second half hungry for a goal of their own.

Within 14 minutes, the game was tied. Megan Schmid rebounded a deflected shot and slipped it past the defense to score for CMS.

The relentless battle pressed on.

The Athena defense thwarted many ULV scoring attempts.

CMS would only allow ULV one goal as the buzzer sounded at the end of the game with the score still tied.

Neither team was able to score in the first overtime.

But less than one minute into double overtime, a series of CMS passes made its way to Erin McLendon, who scored on a close shot from the right side of the goal to win the game in sudden death overtime, making the final score 2-1.

"It was just unlucky," Egan said. "We should have won that game."

Going into the week, the Leopards were tied for first place with Redlands. Both teams suffered losses, however, sending them into third and fourth place, respectively.

With another loss added to their record, La Verne finished the season 11-8 overall, clinching fourth place in SCIAC with a 7-5 conference record.

"I think we did well," Taggart said. "I don't think people expected us to do as well as we did."

"It was a great season," Egan said. "It was very memorable, and we accomplished a lot of things. What else could you ask for?"