Pure Gold! Barton's Overtime Goal Clinches At Least a Share of Regular Season SCIAC Title

WHITTIER Calif. - Sophomore William Barton scored 2:16 into the second overtime period as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team overcame a 1-0 second-half deficit to defeat Whittier 2-1 in a battle between teams that came into the day tied for first in the SCIAC.

With the win, CMS improves to 11-3-2 overall and 8-1-2 in the SCIAC, while Whittier falls to 7-2-2 in the conference. The win clinches at least a share of the regular season SCIAC title, which the Stags can clinch outright with a win or a tie against Caltech on Saturday at 7 p.m., as well as home field advantage throughout the SCIAC Tournament.  

With a loss to Caltech, CMS could still fall into a tie with Whittier or Redlands, but would have the tiebreaker advantages over either (head-to-head with Whittier and better record vs. third place team with Redlands). 



The game-winner came when sophomore Ethan Tyng battled for a loose ball outside the penalty area and played a short ball forward to Barton. Barton brought the ball down with his left foot across his body, let it bounce in front of him, and cracked a right-footed shot from 20 yards out that took one hop and settled inside the left post for the game-winner. 

"It's funny because all week in training, we've been working on that exact pattern," said Barton. "Center back into Tyng, Tyng lays it off to me, and hopefully it comes in the right spot. I was just in the right spot at the right tim. I made the run, Tyng found me perfectly, I took one touch and said, 'Let me just let it rip', hit a volley and it happened to go in the goal."

Barton was also involved in the goal that helped send the game to overtime, winning a header on a 50-50 ball to play it through to the weak side. Once it got through, junior Nate Huntington was able to settle it and blast a right-footed shot inside the left post to knot the score up at 1-1 with 15:06 left in regulation. 

"That was just an incredible goal," said Barton. "Solo effort from Nate, got it down, banged the volley, buckets. That's all I can say; just a great finish."

Both teams had chances for dramatic game-winners right before the buzzer. At the end of regulation, a loose ball pinged around the box for several seconds before Whittier's Matteo Loi got on the end of it from six yards out, but he lifted the shot over the bar. At the end of the first overtime, Tyng came down the left wing and had his shot saved by Whittier goalie Teddy Nickerson before Huntington came sliding in after the rebound and pushed his shot inches wide. 

CMS finished with a 21-17 advantage in shots in a back-and-forth contest, as well as a 5-2 edge in corner kicks. Sophomore goalie Eduardo De Anda had two saves to get the win goal and improve his record on the year to 7-0-1. 

The Stags will finish out the regular season at home against Caltech on Saturday night at 7 p.m., with a win or a tie giving them their second straight outright regular season conference title. It will also be Senior Day for the program, as the seven seniors will be honored prior to the contest: Isaiah Alba, Tyler Chen, Justin Gadalla, Ethan Kable, Luke Scanlan, Adam Singer and Cole Smith.