Overwhelming scoring in first half crushes Poets

CLAREMONT, Calif. – There was no stopping the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon as theAthenas (12-1, 8-0) cruised to a 20-1 victory over Whittier College to stay undefeated in SCIAC play. The Poets (3-11, 0-8) did not have an answer to the CMS offense as they struggled to retain possession and create scoring opportunities.

The Athenas controlled the ball in the Poets' half for majority of the game, out-shooting WC 41-4 and had fewer turnovers (17-27). Freshman Hannah Graves (CMC) led the Athenas with four goals while junior Mikaela Connell (CMC) had two goals and two assists. Junior Kendall Greenberg (CMC) caused three turnovers while adding two goals to her stat line.

The first half started off fairly slow as the Poets looked to swarm the Athenas in the midfield and deny them entry near the goal. It was not until five minutes later when CMS finally broke through after sophomore Corie Hack (CMC) found a racing Graves near the net as the freshman found the back of the net at close range to open up the scorebook. The Athenas went on to score eight straight, including a bouncing shot from sophomore Carly Keeney (CMC) off a pass from freshman Emily Cohen (CMC). Emily Hansen finally got the Poets on board with a free position shot with 12:10 remaining in the half, but freshman Emma Johnson (CMC) sparked another rally after scoring off a pass from Connell. In the last 10 minutes of the half, the Athenas posted five goals to take a commanding 16-1 lead at halftime.

CMS opened up the scoring just two and a half minutes into the second half thanks to a goal from freshman Sally Carlson (CMC), and Greenberg added another a minute later. The Poets were shut out for the remainder of the game as the Athenas denied them clean opportunities to score.

The Athenas will play their final road game of theregular season on Wednesday, April 19 against Chapman University at 7 p.m. The two teams last met on March 4 in an exciting contest, in which CMS won 15-9.

Box Score

By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant

CMS Email Updates
CMS Athletics on Facebook: AthleticsCMS
CMS Athletics on Twitter: AthleticsCMS
CMS Athletics on Instagram: cmsathletics
CMS Athletics YouTube: ClaremontMuddScripps
#goathenas    #gostags