CMS Women's Lacrosse Storms Past Whittier for 21-7 Win in 2023 Opener

WHITTIER, Calif. – Bella Lynch had three goals and five assists, and Amelia Ulmer (four goals) and Grace Minturn (three) had hat tricks in their college debuts, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team opened the 2023 season with a 20-7 win over Whittier on Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.

Emma Merk also had a hat trick and a team-high four ground balls for the Athenas, who were playing their first game of the 2023 season while the Poets were already on their fourth, slipping to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in league play. Ten different players scored goals for the Athenas, including nine to account for the 11 CMS goals in the first half.

Whittier began the game a little sharper after having three games under its belt, and took a 4-3 lead late in the first quarter. CMS was able to find its stride, though, and picked it up a notch, scoring six goals in a row and taking an 11-5 lead into the half.

Minturn and Rachel Leonardi scored goals 24 seconds apart to give CMS a 5-4 lead at the end of the first, with five different players accounting for the five tallies. Minturn became the first Athena to score twice with the first goal of the second quarter, and Maggie Griffis followed with another on a free position shot to stretch the lead to 7-4.

Merk extended the lead to 8-4 with a goal with 3:34 left in the half, and Minturn finished off a first-half hat trick with a goal 21 seconds later. Whittier stopped the 6-0 run with a goal, but Bella Lynch came back with a free position goal 20 seconds later to give CMS its tenth goal of the opening half and then assisted on a goal from Natalie Teare with 2:07 left to push the lead to 11-5.

CMS scored the first four goals of the second half to extend the lead to 10, with Ulmer scoring twice and Lynch having a goal and two assists during the run.

Cate Lewison and Natalie Teare each had two goals and an assist for the Athenas, which finished with a 45-19 edge in shots and a 19-7 edge in draw controls, with Lewison tallying a team-high seven. Ainsley Basic led the defense with four caused turnovers and added four draw controls and three ground balls.

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts its home opener against Occidental at 1 p.m.