First-Half Lead Enough to Lead Athenas Past Tigers

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team opened SCIAC play on Wednesday afternoon with a 14-10 victory against Occidental. The Athenas took a 10-2 lead early in the second-half before the Tigers mounted a second-half comeback. Occidental's late push was not enough as the Athenas held on for the four-goal victory to move to 1-1 on the season and start conference play 1-0.

Senior Evan Murphy (CMC) and freshman Sally Abel (CMC) combined for nine total goals on the afternoon with Murphy leading the scoring effort with five tallies and an assist. Abel found the twine four times on nine shots.

CMS dominated the opening half, allowing just five shots in the first 30 minutes before the Tigers turned the tables to lead 18-14 in shots after the break.

Abel got the Athenas on the board first with a goal less than two minutes into the game off a pass from Lauren Clubb (CMC). Corie Hack (CMC) scored on a free position shot just 90 seconds later to double the CMS lead.

The Tigers tallied their first, and only, goal of the first-half on a free position shot from Sierra Slack, last week's SCIAC Athlete of the Week.

With the Athenas leading 2-1, CMS scored five unanswered goals over the final 24 minutes of the half to take a 7-1 lead into the half. Murphy led the offensive charge by scoring three goals during the stretch, including back-to-back free position goals to make it 4-1. Blaire Southmayd (CMC) and Hack scored goals before Murphy capped off the half with her third goal of the game.

After the half, the Athenas' offense continued to score, with Mia Prine (CMC), Murphy, and Abel finding the back of the net in the first 10 minutes of the second-half. The Athenas held a 10-2 lead before the Tigers rattled off four-straight goals during an eight minute span in the middle of the half.

Two more goals from Abel and one from Murphy put the Athenas back up by seven at 13-6. Occidental ended the game on a 4-1 over the final 4:31 of the game, but the CMS lead was too much to overcome and the Athenas claimed a 14-10 victory to leadoff SCIAC play for the 2018 season.

The Athenas will next be in action on Saturday night when they take the short walk across the street to face the Sagehens at 7:00 p.m.