CMS Women's Soccer Enters 2019 Campaign Looking for Return to Postseason Play

CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The CMS Women's Soccer team returns all of its top scorers from a season ago as it looks to build on a foundation of experience moving into the 2019 campaign, which opens against Johnson & Wales (Denver) on Friday, Aug. 30 at Pritzlaff Field (11 a.m.), followed the next day by a 7 p.m. contest against Illinois Wesleyan. 

The Athenas finished the 2018 season 8-5-4 overall and 6-4-4 in the SCIAC to secure a fifth-place finish in the conference and just miss out on the postseason tournament. CMS returns the SCIAC's leading scorer, senior midfielder Rhiann Holman, who looks to build on a 2018 campaign where she scored 10 goals, dished out three assists and finished with 23 total points. Starting junior goalkeeper Cam Hamson allowed only 10 goals in 17 games played last year and is expected to once again take their place between the pipes after playing every minute for the Athenas last season. Hamson kept an impressive 0.55 goals-against average in 2018 and pitched 11 shutouts with a .884 save percentage. 

CMS narrowly missed the conference tournament a year ago, as it entered the season finale with a chance to qualify with a win over Occidental. Instead, the Athenas dropped a narrow 1-0 decision to the Tigers and finished four points behind Redlands for the final spot in the SCIAC playoffs. The near miss has been fuel for the Athenas during spring practice and into preseason this fall. 

"It's one of our biggest motivators, definitely," said senior forward Kira Favakeh, who had three goals and three assists last season to rank second on the team in scoring. "I think there is no question about it, that we are expecting to go into the postseason. We're really excited and it's looking really good so far." 



CMS missed out on the postseason for the second consecutive year, but took a step forward after going 6-7-5 in 2017, while shutting out 11 of its 17 opponents. The Athenas look to round into the same form that they delivered in 2016, when the team made the NCAA Tournament after finishing with a 17-6-1 overall record and an 11-2-1 conference mark. That year, CMS defeated Chapman 4-0 in the SCIAC Tournament Championship Game to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round after defeating Pacific Lutheran 1-0 in first-round action. The five seniors are the last links to that team, and Holman says the group is eager to return to postseason play. 

"That's been a huge motivation," Holman said. "This is our last and final season. My freshman year we made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and I want my final season to be even better than that, and we are pushing really hard every training practice to get there."

CMS scored 20 goals last season as a team, and the players returning accounted for 19 of them. The hope is that the experience in the attacking unit can provide more offensive punch this season to help the Athenas achieve their goals. 

"I definitely think offense has been one of the first things that we're looking at this year," said Favakeh. "We have good freshmen coming in with new strengths, sophomores coming in really strong, and a really strong and dedicated senior class, and the juniors as well. So I think offensively it's going to be a different team." 

The Athenas will undergo a retooling effort on their outstanding defense after losing three starters of that back line to graduation including Catherine Leon, Megan Lo, and Sydney Talmi, as well as defensive midfielder Sarah Malott. Malott and Talmi both picked up All-SCIAC honors, and the Athenas will look to fill those spots between last year's reserves and some newcomers to the roster. Malott had a key role for the Athenas as a defensive midfielder last season, starting all 17 games and helping CMS hold opponents to only 0.55 goals per game and was named Second-Team All-West Region. Talmi was honored on the SCIAC postseason teams for the first time, picking up second-team honors after helping the Athenas to their impressive defensive numbers.

There will be new faces trying to continue that strong defensive tradition, but Favakeh is confident in what she's seen from the group so far.  "Although there's been a ton of turnover, we have more than enough talent there to have a really strong back line," she said. "And a really strong second back line with subs and everything, so I don't have any worries coming into the season."

The Athenas will feature six juniors on the 2019 roster to add to the experience and leadership, particularly on the defensive end. Joining Hamson in the Class of 2021 are defender Ava McIlvaine, defensive midfielder Katrina Ostrom, defender Grace Pratt, defender Ava Sherry and forward Aarthi Namasivayam, all of whom will look to take on expanded roles this season. Pratt, who is also an All-SCIAC sprinter on the track and field team in the spring, secured SCIAC All-Academic Team honors and appeared in 17 games with two starts. Ostrom also earned a SCIAC All-Academic Team nod and started 16 games out of 17 total appearances with three assists. Sherry appeared in 10 games while making one start in 2018, McIlvaine appeared in three games, while Namasivayam appeared in 11 games at forward and is one of eight returning Athenas to score goals last year. 

CMS opens the 2019 season with three straight home games, hosting JWU (Denver) on Aug. 30 at 11 a.m., Illinois Wesleyan on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m., and Pacific Lutheran on Sep. 6 at 7 p.m. at Pritzlaff Field. Holman says that she and the Athenas can't wait to get it started. 

"I'm super excited," said Holman. "We've already had some great training sessions, some fun bonding experiences, and we have a big countdown on our white board in the locker room for the opener, so we're super pumped for that game, and all the games to follow."   

To view a video preview of the 2019 season, click the play button above or visit our YouTube page. 

To explore the entire CMS Women's soccer team schedule click here.