Gaffney, Kiessling, and Aldrete Named All-SCIAC

LAGUNA NIGIEL, Calif. – On Thursday morning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) released their All-Conference team. Among the student-athletes listed were a trio of Athenas. Jessica Gaffney (CMC) and Roxy Kiessling (CMC) were named First Team while sophomore Aracelia Aldrete (CMC) was honored on the Second Team.

The trio has helped the Athenas to an 18-9 overall record, an 11-3 mark in the SCIAC, and the third seed in the upcoming SCIAC Tournament that begins tomorrow afternoon at Cal Lutheran at 4:00 p.m.

Gaffney earned her fourth-straight All-SCIAC nod this season. The First Team honor is the first of her career after earning Second Team accolades each of her first three seasons in Claremont. Through the regular season, the senior leads the Athenas with 53 goals, 18 assists, and 71 points. Gaffney has been a consistent scorer for the Athenas this season, tallying in 24 of CMS' 27 games. Gaffney's 2018 season has featured 16 multi-goal games and eight games with at least three goals.

Joining Gaffney on the First Team was classmate Roxy Kiessling, earning her third-straight First Team All-SCIAC nod. One of the top two-way players in the conference, Kiessling was in the top-three for the Athenas in goals (35), assists (16), points (51), steals (42), and field blocks (3) through the regular season. Kiessling started off the season relatively slow offensively, but has turned in on down the stretch. Since March started, Kiessling has nine multi-goal games, including a seven-goal performance to end the regular season against Cal Lutheran last Saturday.

In her sophomore season, Aracelia Aldrete earned her first All-SCIAC accolade with a Second Team honor. An offensive threat for the Atheans (40 goals, 14 assists), Aldrete was also strong on the defensive end with 34 steals. Aldrete joined Gaffney and Kiessling as the only Athenas to collect 50 or more points during the regular season. Aldrete scored in all but four games this season and registered 10 games with multiple goals, including two games with a season-high four goals (vs. La Verne - Mar. 10 and vs. Chapman - Mar. 21).

The Athenas will begin the SCIAC Tournament tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Cal Lutheran to take on the third-seeded Regals at 4:00 p.m. in the SCIAC Semifinals. If the Athenas win, they will take on the winner of No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer vs. No. 4 Whittier on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. in the higher seeds pool.