Athenas Fall To Tigers In First SCIAC Loss Since 2008

The Athenas (3-2-2, 1-1-1 in SCIAC) fell to the Occidental Tigers (4-1, 2-0 in SCIAC) 2-1 at home on Wednesday. This marked the first conference loss for the Athenas since the 2008 season, as they went undefeated in SCIAC last season.

Both teams came out hard on defense in the first minutes of the game, with both teams getting a couple of chances, but the first half ended scoreless. The Athenas started the second half with a few more offensive plays, but failed to but the ball in the back of the net. In the 69th minute, Occidental's Elissa Mingmisnon opened up the scoring by finishing off a deflection from the keeper. The Athenas fired back hard, however, and in the next minute of play Olivia Sylvester (SO, Seattle, WA) challenged the Occidental goalkeeper on a long shot, flicking the ball to teammate Rachel Bunting (JR, Eugene, OR) [pictured] who scored the equalizing goal. The match remained tied until the 86th minute when occidental midfielder Alex Nicholson launched a long range shot over the upper right corner to give the Tigers the win.

On Saturday at 1:00 pm the Athenas will take on the Redlands Bulldogs at home.  It is sure to be a battle as the Athenas and the Bulldogs were 1st and 2nd in SCIAC last year, respectively.