ORANGE, Calif. – The season-opener went into overtime but the Chapman University women's lacrosse team fell 18-17 to visiting Occidental. In an exciting open to the 2025 season, freshman Ella Seidel led the Panthers with five goals.

In her Panther debut, Seidel scored five and assisted on two more as the Panthers went back and forth with Oxy. The match was tight throughout with several lead changes. The Panthers owned the biggest lead of the night at 5-2 in the first 10 minutes of the match. Oxy scored the next three goals and the two teams were never separated by more than two goals the rest of the night.

Chapman had taken a fourth quarter lead to stay on the upper end of the see saw but Oxy tied up the game with 4L02 to go and neither team could find the game-winner.

A yellow card in the final second of regulation put the Panthers down a player as they entered overtime and Oxy took advantage with the game-winning goal just 41 seconds in.

Brooklyn Price also made her Panther debut with four ground balls, four draw controls, a goal and two assists while several more Panthers made their debuts on the defensive end, including goalkeeper Madelyn Kuhnlein. Angelina Welsh brought experience on the defensive end and caused four turnovers.

The Panthers outshot the Tigers 30-26 but were 9-of-15 on clear attempts.

Chapman heads to CMS on Wednesday before returning home to take on Whittier at noon on Saturday.