PASADENA, Calif. (Sept. 24, 2022) - The Caltech women's soccer team has had, by nearly every measure, an impressive start to the year. That trend continued Saturday morning on North Field as the Beavers dropped a tightly contested battle to the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens, 0-1.  The Beavers move to 2-3-2, 0-3-0 SCIAC while Pomona-Pitzer improves to 5-1-1, 2-0-1 SCIAC with the result.
 
Conceding a goal in the first five minutes of a 90-minute match may not indicate optimism for the balance of the game, but while Caltech found themselves down early, they continued to fight throughout the half in spite of being outshot 1-6 and the visitors controlling the possession.   After the Sagehens got on the board early as they punched home a shot at the 4:15 mark from inside the penalty area, senior Eve Fine (Locust Valley, N.Y. / Friends Academy) who started in goal, made a terrific save on a point-blank shot from the right wing ten minutes later.  The Beavers, building off the quality defensive stand, built up play.  Moments later, sophomore Shelby Scott (San Jose, Calif. / Leland) struck a shot from the top of the penalty box that was saved by the Sagehens goalkeeper. Fine and the defense turned aside two other scoring chances until she gave way to junior Megan Robertson (Nashville, Tenn. / Harpeth Hall) in the 32nd minute, the model that Coach Clark has been using consistently throughout the season.  While the Beavers turned aside many attempts, Caltech's first half offensive chances were limited to two shots, as senior Catherine Kauber (Pleasantville, N.Y. / Pleasantville) had the other strike.  With both teams making multiple substitutions on the warm morning, the two sides went to halftime with Caltech trailing 0–1.
 
"As a group, we played extremely hard," Head Coach Jen Clark said. "We are playing such close, tight matches.  Most say that there aren't moral victories in sports, but we are encouraged about the progress of the team. We are staying true to our theme of constant, incremental improvement. We are confident that the results are going to come."
 
The second half found both teams trying to build up the run of play, but Pomona-Pitzer increased the pressure on the Beavers, firing 14 shots in the second half, many of them from close range, that Robertson and freshman Sophia Steven (Broomfield, Colo. / Peak to Peak Charter) turned aside.  Each of the three Caltech goalies played more than 20 minutes.  In addition to the saves, the game stayed close due to the several blocked shots by the Beavers defense that kept Sagehen shots from getting to the Caltech netminders. 
 
The scoring opportunities clearly favored the visitors, as the Sagehens had 20 shots on the day, ten of which were saved by Caltech, and took an additional 8 corner kicks in the match. Conversely, the Beavers only fired 2 shots, with only one save being credited to the Sagehens keepers. Caltech did not have a corner kick in the match.
 
Up next for Clark and the Beavers is a home matchup versus the Occidental College Tigers on Wednesday, September 28 at 4:00 pm.  To follow Caltech women's soccer all season long, please go to www.GoCaltech.com.