Athena Soccer Loses To Cal Baptist In Home Opener

The CMS Women's Soccer team hosted NCAA Division II Cal Baptist for their first home game of the 2012 season.  Coming off their trip to Wheaton, IL, the Athenas were excited to be home and taking on a tough Cal Baptist team.  Both teams started out strong in the first half with Cal Baptist taking a bit more control of the play.  They continued to threaten on the wings, but CMS would battle back with a few chances of their own.  Cal Baptist was first to get on the board with a winger breaking through and finding a teammate on a nice crossing pass who buried a one time shot from about 10 yards out.  Not too long after, sophomore defender Claire Shum, tackled a Cal Baptist player in the box resulting in a PK that was converted, putting the Athenas down 2-0.  In the final 10 minutes of the half, CMS created a few good scoring opportunities, but could not finish.

The Athenas came out with renewed energy in the second half trying to score to get back into the game.  CMS fought hard, but had trouble with possession and struggled a bit with Cal Baptist's speed on the wings and mobility in the midfield.  Cal Baptist scored a third goal 18 minutes into the second half on a nice flick over junior keeper Hannah Dunham.  CMS became even more determined and finally scored off a corner from junior Shauny Ullman that found the head of junior Lauren Allen who put her chance into the left corner of the net.  The goal changed the momentum and CMS was the more offensive team for the final 15 minutes.  There were many great chances created and both Ullman and senior Madi Shove had near misses.  In the end, the hole was just a bit too much and the Athenas fell to Cal Baptist 3-1.

CMS hopes to bounce back as they open conference play this coming Wednesday at home against cross street rival Pomona-Pitzer at 7:00 pm.