Men’s Soccer: The Streak Hits11
The men’s soccer team earned the 2012 SCIAC Championship with a 13-2-1 record in conference, earning the first national ranking in its NCAA history. The Sagehens closed out the regular season with an 11-game winning streak, the longest for the program in nearly four decades. Co-captains Robbie Hull ’13 and Erik Munzer PI ’13 were named first-team All-SCIAC and Rollie Thayer ’13 was named to the second team, while Munzer was also honored as first-team All-West Region by the NSCAA.
Women’s Soccer: Late Surge to the Finals
The women’s soccer team reached the finals of the SCIAC Tournament for the first time in school history with one of the biggest upsets of the fall season, knocking off top-seeded Cal Lutheran 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals, before losing to Chapman 4-1 in the finals. Julia Dohner ’16 had both goals for the Sagehens in the semifinals, after the team needed to rally late in the regular season to qualify. A 1-0 home win over Redlands on the first career goal from Natalie Barbaresi ’16 put the Sagehens in position to qualify, and a goal from Claire Mueller ’13 in a 1-0 win over La Verne in the season finale put Pomona-Pitzer in the postseason for the second year in a row. Jordan Bryant ’13 and Allie Tao ’14 were named first-team All-SCIAC and earned a spot on the NSCAA All-West Region team as well.
Football: Peace Pipe Returns
One of the highlights of the fall season was a resounding 37-0 win for the football team in the regular season finale against Claremont- Mudd-Scripps, which returned the Peace Pipe to the south side of Sixth Street for the first time since 2006. Luke Sweeney ’13 capped off his career with 247 rushing yards in the game, giving him the Sagehens’ career record. He entered the game needing 10 yards to break the record (after an injury kept him out for four weeks, right on the cusp of the milestone). Sweeney ended his career with the single-game (265), single-season (1,419) and career (3,004) rushing records.
Men’s Water Polo: Perfection in the Pool
The men’s water polo team went undefeated in SCIAC during the regular season, sweeping all eight league opponents.The Sagehens ended up sharing the league championship with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps after the Stags won the tournament. Pomona-Pitzer capped its season with a strong performance at the WWPA Championships, taking a narrow 14-12 loss to second-seeded Loyola Marymount, and then defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and No. 19 Santa Clara in a pair of one-goal games. Jason Cox PI ’13 was named second-team All-WWPA, while Mark Hudnall ’13 (first team) and Ryan Higgins ’14 (second team) joined him on the All-SCIAC teams. Head Coach Alex Rodriguez was also honored in January with the Distinguished Coaching Award from USA Water Polo.
Men’s Basketball: Winter Dramatics
As the fall season winded to a close, the winter started with some major drama as the men’s basketball team pulled a big 81-79 upset over Westmont in its season opener on Nov. 16. The Sagehens trailed 79-76 with 20 seconds left, but Kyle McAndrews ’15 hit a three-pointer to tie it. Then, after Westmont called a timeout to try to set up the winning play, Michael Cohen ’15 poked the ball free in the paint, McAndrews scooped it up and dribbled coast-to-coast before shoveling a pass to Jake Klewer ’14, who scored as the buzzer sounded for a thrilling victory.
—Jeremy Kniffin