Athenas Lose To First Place Regals

In a Wednesday night battle of the top two women's soccer teams in the SCIAC, Cal Lutheran proved why they have been the top team in the league for the past few years.  CMS had a good start with much of the run of play in the first 10 minutes.  They pressed the Cal Lu defense and connected on some nice passes.  However, Cal Lu was first to score when Kristina Hulse touched a ball through the center of the Athenas defense and ran onto the ball, with her second touch she beat the onrushing keeper Molly Freed who then made contact with Hulse that resulted in a penalty kick that was converted.  Cal Lu then when on the attack and a short time later scored again from a hard shot from the top of the 18 yard box that was not cleared well off a corner.  Freed made the initial save, but the rebound had a back spin that rolled into the CMS goal.  Down 2-0 quickly, CMS was rattled a bit and Cal Lu continued to attack and earned several dangerous corner kicks.  However, the CMS defense held strong and the offense came back and had a couple of chances late in the first half.  The most dangerous chance came from a Liz Augustine corner kick that found the head of Gabby Ozer whose shot hit the post and the rebound was cleared by the defense.  The score remained 0-2 at half.

In the second half, the play became a bit more back and forth.  CMS continued to fight trying to break through the Cal Lu defense and get back into the game.  There were solid chances at both ends of the field, but defenses held strong and the game ended with Cal Lu winning 2-0.  The loss drops CMS into third place in the standings after the first round of conference play.  The second round starts this Saturday when CMS travels across the street to take on Pomona-Pitzer at 11:00am.