CMS Women's Lacrosse Dominates in SCIAC Semifinal Win, Defeats Chapman 22-5

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team had three players finish with seven points (Emme McMullen, Emma Merk and Bella Lynch) and one with six (Catherine Murphy) as it pulled away for a dominant 22-5 win over Chapman in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday night at Zinda Field.

With the win, CMS improves to 13-4 on the season and advances to face Pomona-Pitzer on the road in Saturday's SCIAC Championship game. Chapman sees its season end at 11-6 with the defeat. 

The Athenas offensive attack clicked all evening with 17 of its 22 goals coming off of assists. McMullen and Lynch each had two goals and five assists, while Merk had three goals and four assists. Murphy was the leading scored with five goals, Grace Minturn had four, Taylor Daetz had three, and Cate Lewison had two goals and an assist. 

It took most of the first quarter for CMS to get going as it trailed 2-1 before Murphy tied it with 5:31 left in the first. Minturn scored off a Merk feed at the 4:52 mark to give the Athenas the lead for good, and then added another with 1:38 left to give CMS a 4-2 lead heading into the second quarter. 

CMS then took control off draw controls, three times scoring within 15 seconds off a draw three times in an eight-goal second quarter that saw the Athenas take a 12-5 lead into halftime. Lynch scored off a Merk feed with 13:13 left in the second, and nine seconds later, Daetz scored off a feed from McMullen to make it 7-2. 

After Chapman closed to within 7-4 with 8:29 left, CMS scored twice in a 20-second span off successive draws. Merk won the first draw and fed McMullen 12 seconds after the Panthers scored, and then the two players did the same thing in reverse with McMullen scoring off a Merk feed eight seconds later to make it 9-4 with 8:09 left in the half. 

Merk and McMullen scored successive goals off of Lynch passes to stretch the lead to 11-4, and then Lynch set up another goal, this time to Daetz, to answer a Chapman tally and make it 12-5 going into the half. 

CMS then shut the Panthers out in the second half, as it pulled away for the 22-5 win. Kendall Chapko, who finished with 12 saves to get the win, had five in the second half without allowing a goal, and also was big in securing possessions out of the circle by finishing with seven ground balls. 

McMullen led CMS with seven draw controls, while Daetz and Jessica Sloan-Cooper each caused three turnovers. 

CMS will look to turn the tide against a Pomona-Pitzer team that hasn't lost in SCIAC play in the last two years, although the Athenas came the closest a year ago by taking the Sagehens into overtime. This year's second meeting was tied 9-9 early in the second half, before Pomona-Pitzer pulled away for a 22-14 win.