CMS Women's Soccer Defeats Occidental 1-0, Takes Third Seed in SCIAC Tournament

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team used an early second-half goal from Riley Zitar to take a 1-0 win over Occidental in its regular season finale on Saturday night at Pritzlaff Field.

The win gives CMS a 5-2-5 final record in the SCIAC and moves it into third place, setting up a SCIAC semifinal meeting at Cal Lutheran on Wednesday, which ended up the two seed. Top-seeded Pomona-Pitzer will face fourth-seeded Redlands in the other semifinal. Redlands had a chance to secure the No. 3 seed yesterday, but fell 4-0 to Whittier, and that opened the door for the Athenas to move up a spot with a win today. 

In the first half, CMS had the best opportunity when Cate Lewison earned a penalty kick, but the Athenas hit the post and the game remained scoreless heading into halftime. Occidental was whistled for a foul 35 yards from goal, and Natalie Phillips took the direct kick. She chipped it into the center of the penalty area, and Zitar was able to one-time it into the net just 3:56 into the second half.  

CMS saw the game out the rest of the way without giving Occidental many opportunities. Sadie Brown made one save to preserve a shared shutout with Athena Manthouli. 

CMS will be facing Cal Lutheran for the third time, after most recently playing to a 1-1 tie that was split into two halves played over nine days. CMS led 1-0 at the half, on a goal from Nithya Yeluri, on Oct. 15, but the game was suspended at halftime due to lightning, and Cal Lutheran was able to get the equalizer in the second half when play resumed on Oct. 24. The Regals won the first meeting at home 2-0.