Ramirez leads Leopards to win

The University of La Verne women's soccer team defeated Occidental College in a 3-2 final Wednesday afternoon at Ben Hines Field. Leopard forward Falisha Ramirez was able to score all three of La Verne's goals in the win as the Leopards took sole possession of second place in the SCIAC standings.

Ramirez subbed in for the Leopards after the first ten minutes of the game and made an immediate impact, scoring in the 14th minute on a break away goal down the left hand side of the field. The Tigers would answer back on a Corrine Winkler penalty shot in the 29th minute, and the teams headed into halftime tied at 1-1.

The Leopards came out aggressively at the beginning of the second half and were awarded a penalty shot when Oxy goalkeeper Robin Feldman received a yellow card. Ramirez would capitalize on the penalty by recording her second goal of the match to give La Verne a 2-1 lead.  The Tigers drew even at 2-2, thanks to a pass from Tiger forward Jesi Sasaki to teammate Carley Wachi, who would sneak a shot past Leopard goalie Tatiana Guiterrez in the 56th minute.

After a lull in action, La Verne moved the ball down the field and Ramirez scored her third and final goal of the game in the 80th minute. It would prove to be enough, as the Leopards would win the contest 3-2.

The Leopards claim both games against the Occidental Tigers in the 2008 season, each game ending in a 3-2 final. La Verne remains to be the only team to have played Occidental in a match where both teams have scored, as eight out of the Tigers last 10 outings have ended in a shutout either in favor of Oxy or their opponent.

Ramirez continues her impressive scoring campaign, and now has 15 goals on the season. Goalkeeper Tatiana Gutierrez also picked up five more saves in today's game, and now has 59 on the year.

The Leopards will try to take their momentum into Saturday morning's home game against the visiting Bulldogs from the University of Redlands. Game time is at 11 am.