The California Lutheran University Regals lacrosse team (1-3, 1-3) fell to the No. 10 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (4-0, 3-0) 24-4 on Saturday, March 1, at William Rolland Stadium, marking their widest margin of loss so far this season.
The Sagehens struck early, scoring within the first 30 seconds of the first period. Less than two minutes later, the Regals answered back with a goal by junior midfielder Josie Oparanaku. The Regals allowed the Sagehens 17 points in the first half and did not score again until the third period, when Oparanaku scored her second goal of the game.
In the fourth period, sophomore midfielder Madison Soforenko and senior midfielder Malina Diaz delivered on offense for the Regals, scoring a goal apiece.
Head Coach MacEllen McDonough said she thought the Regalsโ energy shifted in a positive direction as the game progressed.
โI think we started out slow and then when we came back with energy, it was, like, getting better and better as we went on, and Iโm really proud of the team for the adjustments we made throughout the game,โ McDonough said.
Soforenko and junior goalkeeper Bella Bravo were both in agreement with McDonough about the gameโs slow start. Soforenko said she felt her goal helped to reignite the energy of the game.
โIt was good. It was a little bit of a pick-me-up. I think we needed that. One of my teammates, number nine, went down right before that, and I think that was needed to kind of lift the energy up a little bit,โ Soforenko said.
McDonough said her teamโs rally in the fourth period was โawesome,โ and that it took the effort of the entire team to accomplish.
Bravo, who had eight saves in this game, said she tries to have a โgoldfish mentalityโ to get herself reset in the net when her opponent is repeatedly scoring.
โYou know, itโs a lot of shots, and I think, just one thing is, as a goalie, you have to have the goldfish mentality of justโ I mean, a goldfish forgets everything,โ Bravo said. โYou just have to chuck it and move on. Thereโs really nothing else you can do. โฉYou canโt let it bother you, you just have to acknowledge it and move on, like, you just gotta keep going because thereโs no option.โ
With the Sagehens nationally ranked at the Division III level and the Regals being a young program, Soforenko said she comes into games like this with a โnothing-to-loseโ mindset.
โI think itโs just coming in with the mindset of we kind of have nothing to lose, just give it everything we have, leave everything on the field, keep the energy up, try things that we havenโt tried before, and prepare for games that are a little bit more evenly-matched,โ Soforenko said.
McDonough said she saw this game as an opportunity for the Regals to fine-tune their skills without placing so much importance on the outcome.
โItโs great for us to play teams like that, just, like, so we can learn, and then so we can also see, like, kind of where the bar is being set for the future for us,โ McDonough said. โWe can learn from them, and then we can also just focus on small adjustments rather than the score.โ
The Regals will look to pick up their second win of the season when they play the Albion College Britons on Wednesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at home.
โThe energy, thatโs a lot of the game, and I think, like I said, like, we started really slow and I think next time weโre gonna come in, full heat, ready to go,โ Bravo said.
