Stags First In SCIAC After Two Games

The CMS Stags beat the Beavers of Caltech 3-0 on Wednesday, September 17th for their first victory of the year in their first SCIAC competition. Again on Saturday, the Stags defeated the Whittier Poets by the same score to gain sole possession of first place in SCIAC with a 2-0-0 record.

On Wednesday, CMS traveled to Caltech and gave themselves an early lead when Stefan Gonzalez (JR, San Gabriel) confidently blasted a shot past the keeper off a brilliant cross from Ryan Weaver (SO, Monument, CO). Despite a determined Caltech squad, the Stags were able to bag two insurance goals in the second half, as Gonzalez tallied his second of the match five minutes in and Kevin Festini (SR, Fremont) found the back of the net with eight minutes remaining.

The Stags picked up three more points on Saturday at home against the Whittier Poets. After a well-fought first half, the scores were even at 0-0, but CMS came out much stronger in the second and took the lead quickly of a corner kick when Mitchell Skotarczyk (SO, Brea [pictured]) made a cutting run inside the penalty area to head home a tantalizing cross from Alex Lichtenberg (FR, Beverly Hills). Shortly after, the Stags extended their lead to two off of another corner kick that looked strikingly similar to the play just minutes before. The cross to the far post hit off numerous players until the ball fell to the feet of Weaver, who sent a statement by tearing a hole through the roof of the net. Ian Anderson (SO, San Francisco) made his debut back from injury in the second half after sitting the first five games of the season and made an impact immediately by hitting a laser of a shot from 20-yards out into the upper-V to make it 3-0.

These were two great wins for the Stags as they pick up momentum going into their next SCIAC competition on Wednesday against cross-street rivals Pomona-Pitzer at 7:00 PM at Pritzlaff Field.