Meet You in Saint Louis! CMS Women's Soccer Defeats Cal Lutheran on Penalty Kicks to Advance to Round of 16

THOUSAND, OAKS, Calif. - Sophomore Lauryn Jeans made the clinching penalty kick as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team defeated Cal Lutheran 4-2 on penalty kicks after playing to a 0-0 tie through 110 minutes, advancing to the Round of 16 next weekend at Washington University in Saint Louis.

The game officially gets counted as a tie, with CMS seeing its record move to 11-4-4 on the season, including 1-0-2 against Cal Lutheran. The Athenas also tied 1-1 against the Regals in the regular season meeting between the schools, and won the 1-0 meeting at home. CMS will face host WashU next Saturday, with Pomona-Pitzer and Chicago meeting in the other sectional semifinal, with the two winners playing on Sunday for the right to advance to the Final Four. 

The Athenas held on to get it to penalty kicks, as Cal Lutheran had two quality chances in the first overtime on counters, but missed high on one and just wide right on the other from inside the CMS penalty area. CMS put some pressure on late in the second overtime as the ball pinged around the Cal Lutheran penalty area on two occasions, but the Athenas were unable to get a shot on frame. 

CMS went first on penalty kicks, and senior Sarah Tocher put the first one in the upper corner to give the Athenas the lead. Cal Lutheran tied it up 1-1 after the second round, before sophomore Samantha Ree made it 2-1 when she slotted her shot into the net before the Regals hit the post on theirs. Senior Kira Favakeh extended the CMS penalty kick lead to 3-1 when she chipped in her penalty kick under the crossbar, and after Cal Lutheran converted to make it 3-2, Jeans put hers away in the lower corner to finish off the 4-2 win and send CMS through to the sectionals.

The Athenas had perhaps their best chance in the first couple of minutes after Tocher was denied on a counter when she got in behind the Cal Lutheran defense. First-year Taylor Arakaki took a shot from long distance in the second half that hit off the crossbar and stayed in play, and the Athenas missed a chance on a penalty kick when they were fouled going after the rebound. 

Junior goalie Cam Hamson was called on to make one big save on the day, diving to deflect a ball headed for the upper-left corner late in the first half for a corner kick. CMS and Cal Lutheran each had 10 shots on the day, while the Regals had an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks. 

The penalty kick victory means that the Athenas' second chance storyline will continue on for another week. CMS appeared like its season would be over after a 1-0 loss to Chapman in the regular season finale on Nov. 2 left it out of the SCIAC Tournament. The Athenas ended up earning the at-large bid, though, as early-season wins over Pacific Lutheran and Illinois Wesleyan, both of which won their conference titles, helped give CMS the credentials it needed to earn a chance to play again. It was a chance that was a pleasant surprise to the senior class, and the group has made the most of it.

"We've been giddy all week waiting for this weekend," said Favakeh of getting another chance to play. "It's meant a lot, because I've had the chance to go back out on the field and just be here and play my hardest. And I think all the seniors and every player feels that way, we're just so grateful that we get to have fun together again. It's been kind of a different vibe as we get to move forward."

"It was a pretty short retirement," said Tocher, who celebrated her birthday by extending her collegiate soccer career at least one more week. "But I'm not complaining. Once we heard the news, we were immediately focused on the next game. Emory was going to be tough, we played a good game against them yesterday (2-1 win) and then we had to get ready for Cal Lu today. They're a good team, it's always tough to play here, but our goal was the Sweet 16 and further than that, and I think everyone came refocused today."

CMS last faced Washington University a year ago in Saint Louis, with the Bears taking a 3-0 win. SCIAC rival Pomona-Pitzer is on the other side of the WashU sectional, which the Athenas dropped a pair of 1-0 decisions against this season, but a CMS upset over WashU and a Pomona-Pitzer win over Chicago could result in a third Sixth Street match-up, about 1500 miles away from Sixth Street. 

WSOC: Here are all 4 penalty kick makes for the Athenas (Tocher, Ree, Favakeh, Jeans) - followed by the team singing happy birthday to senior Sarah Tocher, whose b-day present is a longer soccer career. On to sectionals at WashU next weekend! pic.twitter.com/Uwx5s4cdT4

— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) November 18, 2019