Dance Card Punched! Strong Non-Conference Schedule Earns CMS Women's Soccer NCAA Bid
NCAA Bracket
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team earned a second life after narrowly missing its conference tournament, riding a strong non-conference schedule to earn an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Division III Championship field, it was announced this morning.
CMS will head to SCIAC rival Cal Lutheran for an opening round matchup with Emory, which will fly in to the West Coast to compete with three California teams. Cal Lutheran, the top seed in the region, will host UC Santa Cruz in the other opening round match-up.
The Athenas thought their season was over when they dropped a narrow 1-0 decision to Chapman in the regular season finale to fall to 10-4-3, just missing the SCIAC Tournament after splitting the season series with the Panthers. CMS, though, earned the SCIAC's third bid behind Cal Lutheran and tournament champion Pomona-Pitzer, behind its strong non-conference resume.
CMS started out the season with a 4-0-1 record out of conference, which included wins over Illinois Wesleyan (2-0) and Pacific Lutheran (1-0), both of which went on to win their conference championships. Pacific Lutheran enters the NCAA Tournament with a 16-2-2 record, after winning 15 games in a row after its defeat to CMS, while Illinois Wesleyan qualified with a 14-5 record on the year. The Athenas also picked up a win and a tie against Cal Lutheran, and suffered two of its four losses to No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer.
CMS will head to Thousand Oaks with renewed life, led by four senior attackers who will get to extend their careers. Rhiann Holman is a three-time first-team All-SCIAC selection and leads the Athenas in scoring for the third straight season with 23 points (eight goals, seven assists). Sarah Tocher, a second-team All-SCIAC pick, is tied with Holman for the team lead with seven assists, while Gabby Clouse (five goals, one assist) and Kira Favakeh (three goals, three assists) are second and third on the team in points.
Sophomore center back Gracyn Buenconsejo was a first-team All-SCIAC selection and anchors a team defense that is allowing only 0.51 goals per game on the year.
CMS will be playing Emory for the first time this season but if it advances, it will meet a familiar foe regardless. The Athenas tied 1-1 at Cal Lutheran after leading 1-0 late in the game, and then defeated the Regals 1-0 in Claremont. CMS also traveled to UC Santa Cruz in its non-conference schedule and tied the Banana Slugs 1-1.