CMS Women's Lacrosse Comes Up Just Short in Epic Overtime Battle with Pomona-Pitzer

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Emme McMullen had a career-high six goals, two of which gave CMS the lead in the final five minutes, but 25th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer was able to force overtime and come away with a 16-15 win in an epic battle between the Sixth Street rivals on Saturday evening at Zinda Field.

Pomona-Pitzer stays undefeated at 10-0 with the win, including 6-0 in SCIAC, while CMS slips to 7-4 and 4-2 in league play. However, the Athenas showed how far they have come since opening day, when the Sagehens won the first meeting 15-7 after leading by as many as 11 goals. 

In the first meeting, Pomona-Pitzer jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, but this time, CMS was able to get the upper hand early, taking a 6-1 lead in the first. Macie Gruver started the scoring on a free position show, and McMullen followed with her first. 

After Pomona-Pitzer cut it to 2-1, CMS scored the next four goals, including two in a row from Taylor Daetz, followed by McMullen's second and a free position goal from Rachel Leonardi with 2:06 left in the first quarter. 

Pomona-Pitzer battled back to within 8-7, but Daetz finished off her hat trick, and Alex Futterman beat the first-half buzzer with a free position goal to give the Athenas a 10-7 lead at the break. 

The Sagehens outscored CMS 5-0 in the third quarter to take a 12-10 lead heading into the fourth, but the Athenas regrouped and went ahead 14-13 after three straight goals, two from McMullen sandwiched around a free position goal from Olivia Carey. Fiona Lewis tied it for Pomona-Pitzer, but McMullen scored her fourth goal of the fourth quarter off a feed from Carey, before Maggie Sweeney tied it again with 1:43 to go. 

Pomona-Pitzer won the opening draw of sudden-death overtime, and CMS was able to force a turnover but couldn't clear the ball, and Shoshi Henderson was able to win it for the Sagehens with 23 seconds left in the first three-minute extra session. 

Carey finished with six assists to go along with two goals for CMS, while Futterman had two goals and two assists. Kendall Chapko had 13 saves, several of which came on free position attempts, but took the tough-luck loss for the Athenas. 

CMS will be back in action on Wednesday night when it hosts Chapman at 7 p.m.