Quick Strikes in First Half Lead CMS Men's Soccer Past Cal Lutheran

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Junior midfielder Nate Huntington and senior defender Adam Singer scored goals off corner kicks just over five minutes apart in the first half as the No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team opened SCIAC play with a 2-0 road win over Cal Lutheran on Wednesday evening.

With the win, the Stags move to 4-2 on the season and 1-0 in league play, while Cal Lutheran slips to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference. CMS has also now shut out its last seven SCIAC opponents dating back to last year, when the Stags had five straight shutouts to end the regular season and played to a 0-0 tie with Chapman in the SCIAC semifinals. The shutout streak stands at 754 minutes against SCIAC teams, dating back to a goal 9:05 into the contest in a 1-0 defeat at La Verne last October 6.  

The scoreless tie was broken at the 18:47 mark of the first half as Huntington tallied his first goal of the year. The play began with a corner kick taken by junior back William Birchard, which resulted in a loose ball in the box. After a couple deflections, the ball found its way to the far side of the penalty area, where Huntington struck it out of the air and tucked it insde the left post to give CMS a 1-0 lead. 

Just 5:22 later, the Stags doubled their lead off another corner kick from Birchard. This time, Singer was able to get on the back end in the center of the penalty area and slip a shot into the net from close range to make it a 2-0 CMS lead with 20:51 left in the half. 

CMS went down a man after a red card shortly after and had to withstand some pressure from the Kingsmen, who tried to get back into the game before the half. Sophomore goalie Eduardo De Anda was up the task, though, making four first-half saves to keep Cal Lutheran off the board. After a halftime break to get re-organized with only 10 men, CMS protected the lead beautifully over the second 45 minutes, holding the Kingsmen to only five shots after intermission playing down a man. 

DeAnda finished the game with seven saves for his first collegiate shutout and his second victory, after also winning Friday's 2-1 overtime contest against Saint Thomas, making five saves.

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it travels to Occidental for a 7 p.m. contest. Last year, the Stags concluded their regular season at Occidental with a 1-0 overtime win on a Birchard penalty kick, which clinched the regular season SCIAC title outright.