Athenas Finish First Round Of SCIAC With Another Win

The Athenas soccer team beat Occidental 1-0 on Saturday to close out the first round of SCIAC play. The Athenas, who just came off of a tie to Whittier in which they had trouble finding the back of the net, again struggled with scoring. However, they fought hard on defense to prevent any goals, and they continued to create offensive opportunities. Late in the game, the Athenas had two near goals off of corner kicks that were beautifully placed in the box. With just over two minutes left in the game, a ball popped out on another corner kick to sophomore Julia Nishioka (Honolulu, HI) on the side of the goal. Instead of booting the ball, she took a beautiful touch to beat her defender, who had no choice but to foul her and give up a penalty kick. Junior Laura Hagen (Bellevue, WA [pictured]) put away the PK, and the Athenas held on to win 1-0. The Athenas closed out the first round of SCIAC's in first place with a record of 5-0-1 (7-1-1 overall), and play at Chapman University next week before starting the second round of SCIAC's.