Kira Favakeh's Golden Goal Gives Women's Soccer 2-1 Overtime Win at La Verne in SCIAC Opener

Kira Favakeh's Golden Goal Gives Women's Soccer 2-1 Overtime Win at La Verne in SCIAC Opener

LA VERNE, Calif. - Junior forward Kira Favakeh scored with 5:35 left in the second overtime to give the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team a 2-1 win over La Verne in the SCIAC opener for both teams on Wednesday evening.

With the win, the Athenas improve to 2-0 on the year and 1-0 in the SCIAC, while La Verne sees its record slip to 0-2-1 overall and 0-1 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

CMS needed to regroup midway through the second half after falling behind 1-0, but junior midfielder Rhiann Holman came up with a big goal with 15:13 left off a feed from sophomore Emily Kussick to tie the score at 1-1. 

Remarkably, neither team took a shot attempt in between the Holman goal and Favakeh's game-winner in the second overtime as both teams remained stout defensively. The final 15 minutes of regulation went by without a shot, and the first 10-minute overtime session included only a CMS corner kick statistically. Favakeh, though, finally broke the stalemate with her sixth career goal to give the Athenas the win, getting on the back end of a long through ball from Holman and one-timing a shot from 15 yards out into the net. 

The teams also played to a scoreless first half in which CMS did not allow the Leopards a shot attempt, holding a 3-0 advantage in shots over the first frame. La Verne came out of the locker room and quickly put the Athenas on their back foot, though, as sophomore goalie Claire Hamson made three saves in a span of less than a minute to keep the score tied (the only three saves for either goalie in the entire contest). The Athenas settled back down after that La Verne flurry five minutes into the second half, but the Leopards finally struck first 15 minutes later, converting on their only corner kick of the game with 22:16 left as Alina Cobain scored off an Andrea Story corner. 

CMS finished with an 8-5 advantage in shots and a 4-1 edge in corner kicks over the 105-minute game. Hamson had her second straight shutout to start the season after compiling three saves. 

The Athenas step back out of conference this weekend to take on Washington University on Friday and Fontbonne on Saturday in a two-game trip to Saint Louis, before hosting their home opener on Wednesday against Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m.