Malaska helps Pomona-Pitzer score first NCAA bid in 34 years

Sophomore defender Colin Malaska (Redmond/Eastside Catholic High School) helped the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer team reach the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 1980 with a 1-0 win over the University of Redlands in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament finals last Saturday.

November 11, 2014 3:16 pm
Pomona-Pitzer's Colin Malaska controls the ball against the University of Redlands.
Pomona-Pitzer's Colin Malaska controls the ball against the University of Redlands.

Sophomore defender Colin Malaska (Redmond/Eastside Catholic High School) helped the Pomona-Pitzer men’s soccer team reach the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 1980 with a 1-0 win over the University of Redlands in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tournament finals last Saturday.

Malaska played a key role on the Pomona-Pitzer (Claremont, Calif.) defense in the championship game, playing most of the second half to help preserve the shutout. After seeing part-time action through the first half of the season, he has become a key member of the team’s defense down the stretch.

A neuroscience major at Pomona College, which is rated as the No. 5 liberal arts college in the nation by US News and World Report, Malaska lettered for four years at Eastside Catholic, while leading the team in scoring in two of them and earning All-Metro League honors. He also played club soccer for Redmond’s Crossfire Premier, a United States Soccer Development Academy.

Pomona-Pitzer opens up the NCAA Tournament with a road game at the University of Texas at Dallas this Saturday. The winner will meet the victor of the Trinity College versus Hardin-Simmons University first-round game on Sunday for the right to move on to the round of 16.