Close win to send Stags into Tournament

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team earned a spot in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Postseason Tournament with a 1-0 win over Whittier College on Saturday night. The Stags needed to win to overtake Pomona-Pitzer in the conference standings for the fourth seed. This will be the first time CMS will compete in the SCIAC Tournament since 2013, when the current seniors were freshmen.

Prior to kickoff, head coach Matt Edwards honored the nine graduating seniors: Mehron Abdi (CMC), Alex Censullo (CMC), Alex Choi (CMC), William Cresap (CMC), Michael Crowley (CMC), Ryan Karle (CMC), Elijah Lichtenberg (CMC), Cole Mora (CMC) and Ian Shelton (CMC). After the win last night, the class of 2017 owns a 40-27-7 record over four years.

Spurred on by the importance of the game at hand, the seniors played a big role in setting the pace for the eventual win. In the sixth start of his career, Shelton challenged the Poet defenders for a hard 26 minutes before freshman Patrick Burke (CMC) came in in relief. During that time, Shelton led with four shots and had a potential breakaway opportunity but was called back due to his being slightly offside.

In the 11^th minute, Abdi had a header shot that glanced just off the cross bar and heard the full stands gasp in excitement. In the first half, CMS out-shot the Poets 10-2 and had eight corner kick opportunities. In spite of the statistics being overwhelmingly in the Stags' favor, the score remained deadlocked at 0-0 after the first 45 minutes.

Returning to the starting 11 for the second half, CMS looked to break the tie. Again, the seniors led the way with their energy and poise and it paid off in the 60^th minute. Shelton took a shot at close range that rebounded off the keeper for Karle to put definitively in the back of the net.

With the 1-0 lead, CMS continued to attack. With three more corners in the second half and seven free kicks from fouls, the Stags were dangerous on set pieces throughout the game. The Whittier defense was able to keep CMS to just one goal as keeper Jorge Rivas added four saves during the game.

The Stags' back line recorded another solid performance, especially Mora who marked the speedy James Suri who was Whittier's top scorer.

Again, head coach Matt Edwards was complimentary of his senior class saying, "This was a great night for the seniors and a great moment for the program. They have been instrumental in leading us back to the playoffs."

The Stags will travel to No. 1 seed Redlands on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.

Box Score

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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