CMS Men's Soccer Bounces Back with 1-0 Road Win over Emory

ATLANTA, Ga. - Junior defender William Birchard converted a penalty kick in the 48th minute for the only goal, and sophomore goalie Jacob Mays had four saves to pick up his 16th career shutout in his 20th career game, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team defeated host Emory 1-0 on the second day of the Sonny Carter Invitational on Sunday evening.

With the win, CMS improves to 1-1 on the young season after falling in double-overtime to Oglethorpe on Friday in its opener. Emory, which defeated Pomona-Pitzer 1-0 on Saturday in its first contest, goes to 1-1 on the season as well. 

The score was deadlocked at 0-0 at the half, before the Stags struck quickly to take the lead at the start of the second stanza. CMS put pressure on the Eagles deep in their end, and an Emory clearance attempt took a deflection right back into the box. Sophomore forward William Barton earned the inside track to the loose ball and was about to have a golden chance at the go-ahead goal before being pulled down from behind for a penalty kick. 

Birchard, who led CMS with six goals last season, including two on penalty kicks (the second of which clinched the SCIAC title in overtime at Occidental), stepped up to the spot and was able to convert for a 1-0 CMS lead at the 47:41 mark.  Emory goalkeeper Cole Gallagher actually guessed correctly on the shot and got his fingertips on the ball, but Birchard hit it with enough pace to get it through and into the net to break the scoreless tie. 

Mays then had three of his saves in the second half to preserve the 1-0 lead, all of which were of the routine variety. He had his best effort to punch away a dangerous crossing pass out of the top of the box in the 84th minute, while Emory had its best chance in the 54th minute with a one-time shot from Ethan Cohen that hit the crossbar from 12 yards out, although Mays was potentially in position to get a hand on it if the shot was lower and on target. 

The game was evenly played for the most part with CMS holding a 12-10 edge in shot attempts and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks. The shutout was the first of the year for the Stags, which led the nation in team defense last year (0.21 goals against average) with only four goals allowed in 18 contests, 15 of which resulted in shutouts. Senior center back Adam Singer, junior center back Kevin Proudfoot, Birchard and sophomore outside back Grant Donaldson returned to their form of a year ago in front of Mays by holding the Eagles to just 10 shot attempts, with senior Luke Scanlan filling in the defensive midfield role left vacated by graduated senior Aidan Johnson (the only starter on last year's team to graduate). 

Birchard, Barton and Singer were all chosen to the Sonny Carter Invitational All-Tournament Team, along with sophomore Samay Rahim, who started both games and anchored the center midfield for the Stags. 

CMS will be back in action this coming weekend when it travels to Texas for two tough matches against nationally-ranked Trinity (No. 9) on Friday and tournament host UT Dallas on Saturday.