Barton's Two Goals Help CMS Men's Soccer Stay Tied for First in SCIAC

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sophomore forward William Barton scored the first two goals of the game, one in each half, as the No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team bounced back from its first conference loss to defeat La Verne 3-1 on Saturday night at Pritzlaff Field.

With the win, the Stags improve their overall record to 10-3-1 and move to 7-1-1 in the SCIAC, remaining in a first-place tie with Whittier, which defeated Chapman on Saturday. La Verne falls to 9-7 overall and 4-5 in the league with the loss. 



Barton scored his first goal of the game in just the fourth minute, as he took advantage of a perfectly-placed 50-yard through ball from first-year midfielder Troy Lehenbauer. The pass put Barton in behind the defense, and he was able to dribble around La Verne goalie Kevan Rehmani and slot home a 15-yard shot to give the Stags the 1-0 lead just 3:29 into the contest. 

The second half began almost the same way, with Barton scoring just 6:46 after the intermission to double the CMS lead. Senior midfielder Isaiah Alba played a diagonal ball into the corner that got junior midfielder Daniel Rohde in behind the defense along the left side. Rohde cut a low pass through the box, and Barton crashed down the middle and was able to tap the ball into the empty net from the goalmouth. 

La Verne managed to get one goal back just 3:28 later to cut the lead back to 2-1. Ethan Diaz took a free kick from just behind midfield and sent a long ball into the box where Adrian Perez flicked it forward with his head. David Vazquez-Mena got on the back end inside the six-yard box, and put the ball off the inside of the right post and in to make it a 2-1 game. 

Senior Cole Smith, though, came up big to stop any thoughts of a La Verne comeback with a pretty goal off a cross from junior Henry Kraham. Moving laterally to goal, Smith lept and flicked the ball with his foot out of the air, sending a chip over the head of Rehmani and into the net to make it a 3-1 lead with 17:29 to go. 

Sophomore Eduardo De Anda had four saves to get the win in goal and remain perfect at 6-0 this season. CMS finished with a 25-12 edge in shots, as Rehmani was forced into nine saves, while the Stags also had a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks. 

CMS will have a much-needed week off before returning to action for two huge road games against the other top three teams in the league, at Redlands (one game behind Whitter and CMS) on Saturday, and then at Whittier on Oct. 30.