CLAREMONT, CA — Daniel Ortega got the Leopards on the board in the 63rd minute and Johnny DeRueda cut the deficit to one six minutes later.

But the University of La Verne men's soccer team couldn't overcome a 3-0 first half hole, falling on the road to the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens Wednesday evening.

The Sagehens jumped on La Verne early, taking a 1-0 lead after an Eamon Stein goal and led 3-0 just over 30 minutes into the match. Pomona-Pitzer bombarded the Leopards in the first half, taking 15 shots in the opening 45 minutes.

It looked like the score would remain unchanged in the second period, until Ortega took charge, scoring an unassisted goal to put the momentum on the Leopards' side. 

The Leopards kept rolling in the 69th minute this time with Cesar Rodriguez finding DeRueda who sent a shot to the back of the net to put the score at 3-2.

Tristan Polakowski picked up five saves in the match. Rene Gonzalez added one save.

Season Impact

With the loss, the Leopards fall to 5-7 overall and 3-7 in SCIAC play. Pomona-Pitzer improves to 6-8 overall and 5-5 in conference play.

Next Game

La Verne travels to Cal Lutheran this Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. match-up. The Leopards notched an exciting overtime win against the Kingsmen earlier this year when Christopher Wong scored game-winner with one second left in overtime.