Tough loss to La Verne on Wednesday night

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team was shut out for the first time by La Verne on Wednesday night at Pritzlaff Field. The Leopards took an early 1-0 advantage and then held onto the halftime score of 2-0 for the win over the Stags.

CMS, led by seniors Michael Crowley (CMC) and Mehron Abdi (CMC), controlled the pace of the game in the first ten minutes as the Leopards only crossed the midline a pair of times. The Stags maintained possession as the Leopards struggled to get consecutive touches on the ball.

La Verne got on the board in the 13^th minute when Justin Funes hit his third goal of the season, assisted by Nathan Gonzalez. The pair pulled up in front of the Stags' defense and Funes took his shot from far out, sailing it into the upper right corner as the CMS defense watched on in disbelief. With the 1-0 lead, the Leopards started playing with new intensity.

In the 32^nd minute, ULV found the back of the net again on a hectic play. Ryan Adams took a shot at close range that junior keeper Daniel Cui (CMC) deftly defended but was unable to wrap up. Adams quickly found Christopher Wong in front of the net, who then put it in and for the 2-0 score going into halftime. Saul Uribe led the visitors with three shots in the first half as ULV out-shot the Stags 11-to-2.

With both teams returning their starters to the field for the beginning of the second half, the pace picked up. Sophomore Aidan Johnson (CMC) and freshman Adam Singer (CMC) played solid defense to support the efforts of the midfield.

Midway through the half, head coach Matt Edwards removed the starters to meet with them and regroup. When they returned in the 68^th minute, the Stags intensified their drive to score. Seconds later, Crowley was served a ball right to his head that flew barely high of the frame.

Still chasing two goals, the offensive efforts grew more hurried for the Stags as La Verne took opportunities to slow the game down. CMS' final shot that felt promising was off a pass from Abdi from the end line back to senior Elijah Lichtenberg (CMC) who took a hard shot that smacked the fence just wide of the right post with three minutes on the clock.

Abdi ended up with four shots for CMS while three Leos tied at having three shots a piece.

With the loss, CMS drops to 7-2 overall, 5-2 in SCIAC. The Stags travel to Chapman on Saturday at 1 p.m. and then return home to Pritzlaff on Monday, Oct. 3 to host Caltech.

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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