The University of Redlands women's soccer team fell to the Tigers of Occidental College on Saturday afternoon, 1-2. Despite the loss, Redlands remains in second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, just one point ahead of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
Just minutes into the contest, the Bulldogs had a golden-opportunity when senior forward Samantha Rivera (Thousand Oaks, CA) received a cross from the left side and one-timed her shot just wide of the left post.
After numerous goal-scoring chances in the first stanza, the Maroon and Gray finally got on the board in the 36th minute when freshman midfielder Savannah Laursen (Boise, ID) whipped in a beautiful corner-kick to senior defender Ellie Harrington (Seattle, WA), who volleyed the ball into the back of the net. For Harrington, it was her first ever career goal in a Bulldog uniform.
However, just 51 seconds later, Tigers' sophomore defender Taryn Ng (Milpitas, CA) played a long ball over the top of the Bulldogs' defense and junior forward Kate Correll-Buss (Denver, CO) ran onto the ball and slotted it into the bottom left corner of the net, tying the game at one.
Redlands continued to push the tempo in an attempt to regain the lead, but were unable to do so before the half. In the first 45 minutes, the Bulldogs held the statistical advantage in shots, 13-3, and corner-kicks, 4-0, but were only able to capitalize on the one opportunity.
A back-and-forth second half ensued with the Tigers striking first. In the 72nd minute, Correll-Buss found herself behind the Redlands' defenders, once again. After running onto a pass over the top of the defense, she took a couple of touches and then scored off the left post and in.
Desperate for the equalizer, the Bulldogs pushed everyone forward in search of another score. Unwilling to relinquish the lead, however, Occidental clamped down and held on, resulting in the one-goal upset-victory for the Tigers.
On the game, the Maroon and Gray outshot Occidental, 18-11, and held the advantage in total corner-kicks, 7-2.
Redlands (6-2-2, 5-2-1) looks forward to traveling to Thousand Oaks on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match-up against the first-place Regals of Cal Lutheran University.