CMS Men's Soccer Settles for Tie with La Verne After Leopards Score Late

CLAREMONT, Calif. - James Gomez scored a goal for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team in the 39th minute that seemed like it would provide the margin of victory, but La Verne struck late on a goal from Nathan Garcia with 2:37 left to come away with a 1-1 tie at Pritzlaff Field.

CMS moves to 4-2-3 on the year with the tie, and sees its SCIAC record level at 2-2-2. La Verne moves to 4-4-3 overall and 0-3-3 in the league with the road point. 

Gomez converted late in the half after the Stags had been knocking on the door, including two near-misses from Rafael Otero, who had his shot off a corner kick cleared off the line in the 10th minute, and then hit the crossbar in the 31st minute.

The CMS goal was set up by Gray Mollenkamp, who sent a hard cross from the left edge of the box that found its way through to Gomez, who was able to settle and blast a shot in from 10 yards out to make it a 1-0 game. 

At the start of the second half, Walsh Kern nearly made it a 2-0 game, but had his bid for an insurance goal hit off the right post and stay out. That would prove to be big when Garcia got free at the top of the six-yard box and finished a cross from Owen Osagiede in the 88th minute to finish the game at 1-1. 

CMS finished with a 17-8 edge in shots, including 13-3 in the first half, as well as a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. Kevin Box had three saves for the Stags in goal. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Caltech for a 7 p.m. contest.