CMS Women's Soccer Rolls to 8-2 Win Over College of the Desert

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Ava Schmitt scored a pair of goals to stake CMS to a 3-0 halftime lead, and Nicole Oberlag scored twice in the second half to help break it open, as the Athenas took an 8-2 win over the College of the Desert on Wednesday evening at Pritzlaff Field.

The College of the Desert is a two-year school, so the contest will be recorded as an exhibition game and not count as an official win for the Athenas, but CMS will take a lot of momentum into its first game against a four-year school when it faces Willamette at Cal Lutheran on Friday night. 

Caelyn Smith got the Athenas on the board first in the opening 10 minutes, when she rifled a shot from the top of the 18 yard box that found its way into the net. Schmitt then scored the first of her two goals after Kaitlyn Helfrich made a long run up the left sideline and had her initial shot saved by a diving College of the Desert goalkeeper, but Schmitt was there to pounce on the rebound.  

After Schmitt pushed the lead to 3-0 just before the half with her second goal, the College of the Desert struck for two goals early in the second half to pull within 3-2, before CMS put it away with four goals in a stretch of seven minutes. 

The Roadrunners closed to within a goal at the 58:31 mark, but CMS was able to answer just over three minutes later, as Kelly Schultz got a rebound from 25 yards out and sent a shot into the vacated net. Just three minutes later, Oberlag scored her first from almost the same spot, but on a free kick, which she rocketed into the upper-right corner to make the score 5-2. 

Tori Holden then set up two straight goals a minute apart on long runs up the left sideline, the first finding Oberlag in front, and the second finding Sunshine D'Elia at the top of the six. The Athenas got their final goal on a similar run, but this time it was Taylor Arakaki finding Hannah Dearman-So with just 3:30 left to close otu the score.  

CMS finished with a 37-5 edge in shots and a 7-0 edge in corner kicks on the evening. 

After facing Willamette, the Athenas will be back at Pritzlaff Field on Wednesday when they take on Whittier for a non-league contest at 7 p.m.