CMS Women's Soccer Opens 2021 Regular Season With 3-1 Win over Willamette

Thousand Oaks, Calif. - The CMS women's soccer team fell behind Willamette early in its regular season opener on Friday at Cal Lutheran, but quickly responded with a pair of goals to take the lead and went on to earn a 3-1 win over the Bearcats on Friday evening at William Roland Stadium.

With the win, the Athenas open the year 1-0 after building momentum on Wednesday with an 8-2 exhibition win over the College of the Desert. 

Willamette struck first with a goal at the 12:49 mark, but it took less than three minutes for CMS to answer, when junior Taylor Arakaki converted off a pass from junior Nicole Oberlag. 

At the 22:40 mark, CMS took the lead for good when first-year Kelly Schultz scored an unassisted goal. The score remained 2-1 until halftime, and the Athenas added some insurance 9:27 into the second stanza when Ava Sherry scored off the second assist from Oberlag. 

CMS locked things down at that point, not allowing a single shot from Willamette in the second half of play, finishing with a 17-4 edge in that department over the 90 minutes, 9-0 after halftime. Junior goalie Athena Manthouli did make three saves in the first half to help keep CMS in front heading into intermission. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Whittier for a 7 p.m. contest at Pritzlaff Field, which will be a non-league game before the two teams meet again in conference play later this year.