CMS Women's Soccer Earns 2-0 Road Win over Whittier

WHITTIER, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team used second-half goals from juniors Kira Favakeh and Rhiann Holman as it captured a 2-0 road win on Wednesday evening at Whittier's Memorial Stadium.

With the win, CMS improves to 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in the SCIAC, bouncing back from its first league defeat at Cal Lutheran (1-0) on Saturday. Whittier falls to 3-2-2 overall and 2-2-1 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

The teams played to a scoreless first half, with CMS holding a narrow 8-5 edge in shots. The Athenas put pressure on early, forcing four saves from Poet goalie Vanessa Martinez in the first 12 minutes, two of them off the foot of Holman. 

The Athenas picked up the pace in the second half, outshooting the Poets 15-7, and finally got on the board with 24:41 left to play when Favakeh finished at the back post after a cross from sophomore Emily Kussick. The Athenas had several strong bids to extend the lead, including a shot from Holman that clanged off the crossbar and another from junior forward Sarah Tocher that was saved over the end line for a corner kick. 

The insurance goal finally came, though, when sophomore midfielder Katrina Ostrom took the ensuing corner kick and found Holman in the middle of the box, who brought the ball down and buried the finish to make the score 2-0 with 6:52 to go. 

Sophomore goalie Claire Hamson had five saves for CMS to get the shutout, while Martinez finished off a busy evening with 10 saves in a losing effort. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday night when it hosts Redlands for a 7 p.m. contest at Pritzlaff Field, just its second home game after playing six of its first seven contests on the road.