Stags and Sagehens tied up

CLAREMONT, Calif. - In extra time on Monday night, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team tied with Pomona-Pitzer 1-1 in overtime. The game was intended to break the tie for third place in the SCIAC but instead solidified the deadlock between the two teams.

An aggressive group of Stags took the field for CMS with freshman Tyler Chen (CMC) earning his second start of the season. Another freshman, Patrick Burke (CMC) got the first crack at the Sagehens with a shot at close range in the 26^th minute. PP's Ben Mitchell made his first of seven saves on the night on Burke's ball.

Shortly thereafter, Pomona-Pitzer got on the board with a goal from JK Gopakumar, crossed in by Daven Crossland.

Only chasing PP by one goal, the Stags remained calm and continued to fight for possession.  From the onset of the second half, the CMS midfield seemed to be getting to more first and second balls. Senior Michael Crowley (CMC) and sophomore Aidan Johnson (CMC) managed the middle of the field well and fed freshman Isaiah Alba (CMC) down the right side.

Alba was relentless in his attacks. In the 50^th minute, Alba evaded at least two Sagehen defenders to serve a ball into the box. Crowley got his head on it and then senior Mehron Abdi (CMC) hit a one-time shot into the net to even the score 1-1. Abdi had another similar opportunity just five minutes, but the shot missed just left of the post.

CMS kept the ball in the Sagehens' area for much of the second half, aided by numerous fouls by Pomona-Pitzer players just outside the box. Senior Elijah Lichtenberg (CMC) made a handful of excellent services from these free kicks but CMS was unable to break the tie in regulation.

The Stags got their best look in the first of the overtime periods. Abdi went on-on-one with a defender down the left sideline and ultimately drew a corner kick. In similar fashion to the goal earlier, a big serve - this time by Lichtenberg – found Crowley and then Abdi in the box, but to no avail.

Pomona-Pitzer's Bjorn Sigurdsson came close in the second of the two overtimes with a shot that junior keeper Daniel Cui (CMC) made a big save on in the 106^th minute of the game.

With the tie, both teams are 6-4-1 in SCIAC play. Next up for the Stags is a trip to Occidental at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Box Score

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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