Murphy Drops Dimes, Athenas Handle Pride with Strong Second-Half

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 22 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team scored 12 goals on Wednesday afternoon in a 12-8 victory over the Springfield Pride on Zinda Field. Evan Murphy (CMC) registered an assist on over half of the Athenas scores on the day, accumulating seven in the Athenas' seventh-straight victory.

A quick scan of the record books shows that Murphy's seven assists are the most in a single game for an Athena since Lindsay Gaesser (CMC) recorded seven against Denison on Apr. 27, 2007. Earlier that same season, Gasser notched nine assists against Puget Sound on Apr. 8, 2007.

The Athenas held a slim, 5-4 lead at halftime before the Pride scored two-straight goals to start the second-half. After two goals in the first five minutes of the second period, Springfield held a 6-5 lead, but CMS scored three-straight goals and five of the next six to take a 10-7 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the game. A free position goal by the Pride made it a two-goal game, but the Athenas scored the final two tallies of the contest to earn the 12-8 victory.

Wednesday's game began with the Athenas and Pride trading free position goals in the opening three minutes to make it a 1-1 game in the early going. Springfield took the lead with a goal from Kristen Steidler less than nine minutes into the game.

It looked like the Athenas were going to tie the game at 2-2 when Emily Cohen (CMC) was awarded a free position attempt four minutes after the Pride took the lead, but her attempt rattled off the post before being picked up by Springfield. CMS' defense held firm, as Kira Weiss (CMC) forced a turnover on the next possession and CMS took over.

Once again, Cohen earned a free position attempt, but this time connected for her eighth goal of the season to level the score at 2-2 just past the midpoint of the half. Four minutes later, Blaire Southmayd (CMC) converted a free position shot and gave CMS the lead at 3-2.

Sally Abel (CMC) continued the CMS scoring streak with a goal in the final five minutes of the half off a feed from Evan Murphy. The assist was the first of many for Murphy on the afternoon. After a goal by Springfield, Murphy would find Corie Hack for the tally with three minutes remaining in the half to give CMS a 5-3 lead. The Pride would close out the half with a goal by Taylor Kane in the final minutes of the period, but CMS would hold a 5-4 at the break.

Despite the close game on the scoreboard, CMS was controlling the majority of statistical categories in the box score, including shots (13-6), ground balls (17-13), and turnovers (21-15).

The Pride jumped quickly scored two goals in the first five minutes of the second-half to take the lead back at 6-5. Corie Hack responded with her second goal of the game on a one-time shot off a pass from Alie Hill (CMC) just over two minutes after the Pride took the lead. Minutes later, Hack struck again with a goal off a pass from Murphy to put the Athenas on top 7-6.

An unassisted goal from Sally Carlson doubled the Athenas lead before Springfield's Shelby Corsano cut the lead back to 8-7 with 17:43 remaining in the game.

In the 90 seconds that followed Corsano's tally, Evan Murphy dished out two passes that turned to goals thanks to shots from Hack and Carlson. The goals were just 16 seconds apart and put the Athenas up 10-7 with 16:27 remaining in the game.

Amanda Nusbaum scored for Springfield with just over 11 minutes remaining, but Allie Hill and Sally Abel scored off passes from Murphy in the final minutes to give the Athenas the 12-8 victory.

The win moves the Athenas to 7-1 on the season and they will next take the field on Sunday against the Colorado College Tigers. Game time slated for 2:00 p.m. PT in Colorado.