Athenas Throttle Poets, Claim 20-4 Victory

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Athenas scored early and often en route to a 20-4 victory over the Whittier Poets on Wednesday night on Zinda Field. The convincing win for the No. 22 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team locked up sole possession of their fourth SCIAC Championship in program history.

CMS scored 15 goals in the opening half including 10 goals in the first 9:32 of the game to start the running clock for the remainder of the contest. A total of 13 different players scored in the game for the Athenas.

Just 18 seconds into the game, Sally Carlson (CMC) dented the scoreboard with her 10th goal of the season off a pass from Hannah Graves (CMC). The tally got the Athenas off to their quickest start of the season with 29:42 remaining in the first-half after the tally. The Athenas' offense continued to fire on all cylinders with scores from Evan Murphy (CMC), Maddie Geary (CMC), Carlson, Corie Hack (CMC), and Allie Hill (CMC) over the next seven minutes.

With a 6-0 lead, Hack notched her second goal of the night before Sally Abel (CMC) scored two-straight to bump the lead up to 9-0 with 21:16 remaining in the half. Less than a minute later, Hannah Graves tallied off an assist from Evan Murphy to start the running clock with a 10-goal differential.

Five more goals followed for the Athenas in the remainder of the half with two scores coming from Julia Mueller (SC) along with tallies from Hack, Mikaela Connell (CMC), and Blaire Southmayd (CMC).

CMS held a 15-0 lead at the break and dominated possession throughout the opening 30 minutes with a 33-2 edge in shots.

While their scoring pace slowed considerably in the second-half, the Athenas retained control of the contest for the remainder of the game. CMS scored just five goals in the second-half and the Poets countered with four goals in the final 15 minutes of the game, but CMS went on for the 20-4 victory. Zoe Ryan (HMC) and Taylor Geary (CMC) both scored their first goals of the season, Eloise Shields (SC) netted a pair of goals, and Sally Abel put through a goal as time expired to round out the offensive effort for CMS in the game.

Sally Abel and Corie Hack each netted three goals to lead the 13 different goal scorers while Evan Murphy and Allie Hill each dished out three assists in the game while scoring one goal apiece.

CMS held Whittier to nine shots in the contest while taking 47 of their own. The Athenas also held sizable advantages in ground balls (22-6) and draw controls (17-8).

As mentioned, the victory locks up a solo finish on top of the SCIAC standings in the regular season to clinch CMS' fourth SCIAC Championship in program history and second in as many years. The Athenas will complete the regular season with a game at Chapman on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.