CMS Women's Lacrosse Fires on All Cylinders in Win over Occidental

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Catherine Murphy had five goals, Avery Monahan and Natalie Teare each added four, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse nearly earned a shutout before settling for a 23-1 win over Occidental on Wednesday evening in its regular season home finale at Zinda Field.

Julia Ryan had 14 draw controls for CMS, which won 24 of the 26 draws as a team on its way to improving to 11-5 on the year and 9-2 in the SCIAC. Occidental slips to 8-6 overall and 6-5 in league play with the loss, spoling the Athena shutout bid on a goal with 12 seconds left. 

Occidental hung tough in the early going, as Murphy scored the first goal at the 10:16 mark of the first quarter, and Ryan made it 2-0 two minutes later. Amelia Ulmer netted a goal from Cate Lewison, and Lewison and Murphy scored unassisted goals 16 seconds apart to make it a 5-0 game with 3:05 left in the first quarter. 

In the second quarter, though, the Athenas opened up offensively, led by Murphy, who had three goals in a span of five minutes, with tallies from Taylor Daetz and Paige Morgan in between. Hannah Conte capped off the half with a goal to make it 14-0 at the break. 

Monahan had three goals in the third quarter, with Grace Minturn and Teare adding tallies. Maggie Griffis capped off the scoring for CMS with 5:54 to go to make it 23-0, before the Tigers finished off the scoring with 12 seconds left on an Olivia Okamoto tally. 

Lyla Johnston started in goal for CMS and had two saves in the first half to leave with a shutout in tact and get the win. Daetz and Stella Hansot tied for team-high honors with three assists apiece, with Minturn and Annie Parizeau each adding two.

Chloe Klein had three caused turnovers to lead the CMS defense, while Ryan had four ground balls to go with her 14 draw controls. The draw dominance helped CMS hold a 47-5 edge in shot attempts on the day, while the Athenas also held Occidental to only 11 clears in 20 attempts. 

CMS will be back in action when it closes out the regular season with a road game at Chapman on Saturday, before facing either Occidental or Chapman in the SCIAC Semifinals at home next Wednesday.