Blachman, Allmon Strike Late as CMS Men's Soccer Earns 2-0 Win Over Whittier

WHITTIER, Calif. - Justin Blachman and Jake Allmon scored goals in the final five minutes as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team took a late 2-0 win over Whittier on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

CMS increased their unbeaten streak to eleven games in a row (10-0-1) while improving to 10-1-2 and 8-0-1 in SCIAC play. Whittier fell to 5-7 overall and 3-7 in the SCIAC on the season. 

The win puts the Stags on the cusp of clinching their third straight regular season league title. CMS came into the day's action with a two-game lead over Redlands in the SCIAC standings with four league games to play, as well as owning the tiebreaker with the Bulldogs due to a head-to-head win. If the Bulldogs fall at Cal Lutheran tonight, the Stags lead would swell to three games with three to play, although Pomona-Pitzer is also three games behind so CMS and Chapman is 3.5 back with one less game played, so the Stags likely would have to wait to try to clinch until its next league game (at home vs. La Verne on Saturday).

The game-winning goal was set up when Harper Rubin stole the ball near midfield and started a quick counter. He was able to find Justin Blachman near the top of the box, and Blachman converted for his fifth goal of the year with just 4:50 remaining. 

Just under three minutes later, CMS clinched it with a second goal off another counter. Will Barton set it up when he won a 50-50 ball near midfield and spun past a Whittier defender. Once over midfield, he was able to spring Allmon behind the Whittier defense, who was able to shield the last Poet defender on his back and slip a low shot under Whittier goalkeeper Teddy Nickerson to seal the win with just over two minutes left on the clock.

Allmon added a big defensive play late in the first half, when he was able to head the ball off the line after a Whittier shot off a corner kick appeared destined to find the net inside the left post, but instead he was able to preserve the shutout for Eduardo De Anda, who improves his career record to 18-1-2 with the win. The Stags also nearly had a goal in the first half, but Liam O'Reilly's free kick hit off the crossbar. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday for a non-league game against Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m. at Pritzlaff Field, before returning to SCIAC action against La Verne at home on Saturday night at 7 p.m.