CMS Women's Soccer Earns SCIAC Bid with 2-1 Win over Redlands

REDLANDS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team fell behind 1-0 to Redlands early, knowing that a win would clinch a SCIAC Tournament bid, and they responded with two goals 1:16 apart from first-years Kateri Trujillo and Emily Bersin to earn a postseason ticket with a 2-1 victory on Saturday.

The win improved CMS to 7-6-3 overall on the season and 6-4-2 in SCIAC, moving the Athenas up to third place in the conference standings after Chapman lost to Cal Lutheran. CMS will next take on second-seeded Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC Semifinals on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Pomona-Pitzer Soccer Field. 

The first time CMS and Redlands met, the Bulldogs scored in the eighth minute and packed it in the rest of the way for a 1-0 win. A similar result could have knocked the Athenas out of the playoffs, but they responded the pressure by scoring twice late in the half to flip the script. 

With 5:04 left in the half, Emma Fogg played a long ball from midfield into the penalty area that deflected off a Redlands defender and into the path of Trujillo, who buried the finish to knot the game up 1-1. 

The goal seemed like it would energize the Athenas going into halftime, but they did themselves one better by scoring another one 1:16 later as Trujillo sent a pass into the box, and Bersin was able to win a 50-50 ball and then slip a shot off the far post and in to give CMS the lead.  

Once ahead, CMS could lock things down in the second half, as Redlands was held to just two shots, and Athena goalkeeper Sadie Brown was called on to make just one save in the 57th minute, a routine save on a 25-yard shot from near the sideline. 

CMS finished with a 17-5 edge in shots and an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal, while tallying five corner kicks to none for the Bulldogs. 

CMS and Pomona-Pitzer played to a 0-0 tie in their one regular season meeting, which was held at Pritzlaff Field. The two teams met in the SCIAC finals last year, which the Sagehens won, and this year they will meet one round earlier, for the right to face either Cal Lutheran or Chapman in the championship game.