CMS Men's Soccer Clinches Top Seed in SCIAC Tournament with 4-0 Win Over La Verne

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Four different players scored goals as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team clinched the top seed in the SCIAC tournament with a 4-0 win over the La Verne Leopards on Saturday night at Pritzlaff Field. 

With the win, CMS improved to 12-1-2 and 9-0-1 in SCIAC play, increasing their win streak to four consecutive games and their unbeaten streak to 13 (12-0-1) since a defeat to Westmont of the NAIA back on Sept. 3. La Verne fell to 3-11-1 overall and 1-9 in the SCIAC on the season. 

The 9-0-1 league record puts CMS two games ahead of second-place Redlands with two games to play, meaning that the Stags can finish in no worse than a tie for the regular season title. Even with the tie, though, CMS would earn the tiebreaker for the top seed, due to its 2-1 head-to-head win over the Bulldogs back in September.

CMS outshot the Leopards 24-4, creating ample opportunities they were able to take advantage of over the course of the night. Eduardo De Anda recorded his eighth shutout of the season, and saw his career record move to 20-1-2 with the win (9-1-1 as a sophomore, 11-0-1 this season).

Samay Rahim put the Stags in front 27:15 into the first half as he was able to convert a penalty kick created by a hand ball to give CMS a 1-0 lead. Justin Blachman scored just over 11 minutes later after Walsh Kern sent him a through ball that he was able to corral and send in a strike past the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper at the 38:32 mark.

Rafael Otero then scored in his second straight game after scoring the golden goal in a 1-0 victory over Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday. This time, Will Barton tried a shot from the top of the 18-yard box where La Verne's goalie Logan Reese dove to stop, which led to Otero pouncing on a loose ball and finding the back of the net to give the Stags a 3-0 lead 53:07 into the game.   

In the closing moments of the game, Luca Wahlberg took advantage of a La Verne miscue and scored his first goal of the season to give CMS a commanding 4-0 lead with 15 seconds remaining. 

The Stags will be back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to take on the Occidental Tigers at 4 p.m.