Lauren Clubb (Photo by Alicia Tsai)
Lauren Clubb (Photo by Alicia Tsai)

Another 10-goal win for Athenas

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team met up with cross-street rivals, Pomona-Pitzer, in just the second game of the season, and won 16-6. The tenacious CMS defense held the Sagehens to just one goal in the first half en route to the dominating victory in SCIAC play.

The Athenas scored early and often. Junior Lauren Clubb (CMC) got CMS on the board early, scoring in the first possession for an unassisted goal. Freshman Allie Hill (CMC) and senior Cara Cancelmo (CMC) quickly added two more goals to give the Athenas an early 3-0 advantage in just three minutes of clock time.

Head coach Lauren Uhr credited the defensive efforts saying, "Our defense really stepped up and ran high pressure to start the game, which held them to only one goal in the first half." CMS forced 16 Sagehen turnovers in the first half alone. Coming up with the ball for CMS was junior Katie Hill (CMC), who recorded four ground balls in the game.

Offensively, 11 different Athenas scored during the game, highlighted by junior Evan Murphy (CMC) with a hat trick. Both of Murphy's goals in the first half were off free position opportunities. Also scoring more than one for the Athenas was freshman midfielder Emily Cohen (CMC). She tallied her first goal at 18:06 in the first half and then was CMS' first scorer in the second.

Nearing the end of the first half, the Athenas tacked onto their already five-goal lead by scoring three times in just over a minute of play. Murphy kicked it off with a free position goal to put CMS up 6-0. Pomona-Pitzer attempted to slow the game down by calling a timeout, but then sophomore Corie Hack (CMC) won the draw and passed to freshman Hannah Graves (CMC), who was fouled in the crease. Graves then converted on another free position shot to Pomona-Pitzer's dismay. Sophie Hubbell won the next draw for the Sagehens but then Katie Hill picked up a ground ball and the Athenas raced down the field for a successful clear and quick goal by Hack, assisted by Graves.

The Sagehens finally broke the drought with a goal by Christian Rowe at 6:12, but that would be all they would get in the rest of the period for a halftime score of 11-1 in CMS' favor.

The Athenas slowed their scoring in the second half, but maintained a significant lead. Uhr commented that, "The team moved the ball well, were disciplined with spacing and offensive movement and finished more scoring opportunities."

Lilly Thomey went on a tear in the second half, scoring all five of Pomona-Pitzer's goals, but it was not enough to catch up to the Athenas.

With the win, CMS (2-0, 2-0) carries momentum into this week's games against Whittier (1-1, 0-1) and Chapman (2-0, 2-0). The Athenas travel to Whittier, Calif. on Wednesday night and then host the Panthers on Zinda Field on Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1 p.m.

Box Score

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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