Redlands men down Pitzer in double OT

By Michelle Gardner

Staff Writer

Jeff Willey scored off an assist from Nick Gunderson 29 seconds into
the second overtime to give the top-seeded the University of Redlands
a 2-1 win over third-seeded Pomona-Pitzer in the championship game of
the SCIAC tournament.

The win sends the Bulldogs (16-4-1) into the Division III playoffs
with pairings to be announced Monday.

Redlands finished with a commanding 40-14 edge in shots. It also had
a goal late in regulation ruled no good. But Coach Ralph Perez
appreciated his team's determination.

"You have to overcome. Sometimes it's the opponent. Sometimes it's a
referee's decision,'' Perez said. ``Sometimes it's a game when things
aren't going your way.''

It was the second game in as many tries where the Bulldogs where
forced to double overtime. They defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in
Thursday's semifinals 1-0.

``I've never been a big fan of the tournament because I think 14
games is enough,'' Perez said. ``But this does help make you
tournament tough, tournament ready.''

The Sagehens (10-7-3) scored first despite being outshot 27-8 to that
point. A Sagehen player was tripped inside the box on a breakaway and
Andrew Stamm converted the penalty kick to give the visitors a 1-0
lead with 16:50 left.

The Bulldogs appeared to answer with 12:47 left when Willey dished
the ball off to Bryan Fakkema who sent the ball to the right side of
the net sending the Bulldogs into celebration. But that proved
premature as the referee called the ball off the inside of the post.

It didn't take long for them to answer though. Just a minute later
Alex Parker did score from 15 yards out off a pass from Fakkema,
tying it at 1-all.

The Sagehens played the last 10 minutes of regulation a player short after a red card had been issued to one of their players after a hard tackle on the Bulldogs Alex Parker.

Pomona-Pitzer keeper Charlie Balter made 13 saves while Redlands'
Evan Hobson needed to make just three.