Laube’s brace enough to defeat Panthers

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer program won their sixth game in a row and moved up to first place in the SCIAC after defeating Chapman University at home 5-1 on Wednesday evening. Senior Laynee Laube (CMC) scored two goals while freshmen Sarah Tocher (CMC) and Kira Favakeh (HMC) and sophomore Maddie Peterson (SC) had one each. Senior Kelly McConnell (HMC) had a busy day, despite making only one save, having to make some blocks and break up several crosses to keep Chapman at bay. Hannah Holden scored the lone goal for the Panthers as the visitors only managed five shots on goal while the Athenas took 12.

Laube drew first blood in the 16^th minute upon receiving a low cross outside the middle of the box from freshman Rhiann Holman (CMC). Laube faked a step to the left to shake off her defender and dribbled towards the right. With an open frame, Laube drilled a shot from the edge of the box and made it past the diving keeper to make it 1-0.

Two minutes late, Laube received the ball on a counter attack and paced down the field. Sophomore Sarah Malott (CMC) was running besides her, racing towards the box, drawing defenders away from Laube. Laube took advantage of the space, dribbling past one defender into the box and slipped a low shot past the keeper to double the lead.

The Athenas maintained their rhythm in the second half, applying heavy pressure in the midfield to generate another counter attack. Their strategy worked in the 58^th minute when Tocher received a pass from the counter and dribbled into the box. Chapman keeper, Kristin Kleinow, closed in on Tocher to tighten the angle and the freshman took a hard shot off Kleinow's fingers. The ball managed to roll into the net to give CMS a 3-0 lead.

The Panthers started to show their teeth afterwards, managing to expose the Athenas' high press with well-placed long balls to their forwards. In the 74^th minute, Chapman finally found the net when Bailee Cochran delivered a short pass to Hannah Holden from the edge of the box. Holden took a hard shot past the keeper to make it 3-1.

CMS refused to give Chapman any hope of making a comeback and in the 78^th minute, Favakeh delivered a laser from the edge of the box to the top right of the net to extend the lead. A minute later, Peterson managed to get her on the ball in a crowded box to make it 5-1.

The women's soccer program will head across the street on Saturday, Oct. 8 for a rematch against their rival Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m. The Athenas will look to avenge their 3-2 loss from their first meeting and pad their lead in the conference.

By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant

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