by Monica Silva

PASADENA, CA - The University of La Verne traveled this afternoon to take on the Cal Tech Beavers on this sunny day in Pasadena, California. In the final conference matchup for the Leopards, La Verne clinched their spot in the SCIAC Championship Tournament.

The Leopards got off to a hot scoring start with 5 goals in the first quarter, three from the field by Nancy Trinh, and one a piece from Brianna Zapata and Olivia Taylor. The second quarter evened out a bit, with both teams matching goals for goals going into halftime, and the two goals in the cage from Kelly Riedel and Zapata, and a halftime score of 7-3. The second half continued the back-and-forth battle, with three more in the net from the Leopards by Trinh, Zapata and Maddie Grove. The Beavers fired in 4 consecutive goals before Trinh answered with a shot to the back of the goal. Both Trinh and Grove had one more in them before time was up, and the Leopards beat the Beavers by a score of 13-9.

Senior Nancy Trinh led La Verne posting six goals to the scoresheet. Brianna Zapata (3) and Maddie Grove (2) each contributed by putting a few through the net. With a combination of goalkeepers, Kate Carlyle and Katrina Hitchcock deflected 28 shot attempts taken by the Beavers and only allowed nine scores with a remarkable .321 shot percentage. 

The Leopards finished the regular season with an 11-14 overall record, and 7-5 in SCIAC conference play. They will travel to Pomona to take on the top-ranked undefeated Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens Friday, April 28th, for the SCIAC semifinals at 7 PM.

(photo by Emma Vu)