CMS Sports Update

CMS teams have begun their fall seasons, most heading into conference play this upcoming week. The Football, Water Polo, and Soccer teams all traveled to face out of state opponents and came back with positive results, while the Cross Country teams continued to dominate their regional rivals. The Stag Football team started their season on the right foot, traveling to Oregon and knocking off the Pioneers 22-7. A 95 yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half, capped by a Scott Yingling (JR, CMC) rushing TD, put the Stags up 12-7 going into the break. The Pioneer offense stalled in the second half, while the Stags added a field goal and D.J. Lillard (SR, CMC) touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Andrew Segal (SO, CMC) had 125 yards on 14 carries, and Lillard added 82 yards on 17 carries. Yingling played well, completing 8 of 14 passes for 163 yards, his favorite target being Mike Hirokawa (SR, CMC) with four catches for 101 yards. The men will take on University of Puget Sound at 12 this Saturday at Zinda Field.

The Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams swept the Redlands Invitational this past weekend, giving Coach Goldhammer a reason to smile, as the Stag and Athena harriers did work on conference rivals Redlands and Occidental. On the men’s side, freshman Brian Sutter (FR, CMC) led the Stags with a third place finish, followed by Kramer Straube (JR, HMC) in fourth. For the women, Jennifer Tavé (SO, SCR) and Julia Rigby (SO, SCR) led the Athenas with second and third place finishes, respectively.

After a 3-0 loss at home vs. Cal St. San Marcos to begin the season, the Stag Soccer team traveled to Massachusetts to take a pair of D3 schools: MIT and Babson. Against MIT, freshman Harrison Doyle (FR, CMC) put CMS on the board first, giving them a 1-0 lead at halftime. An MIT goal in the 75th minute sent the game into overtime, where Doyle tallied another, in the 106th minute, giving the Stags their first win of the season. Two days later against Babson, the Stags could not find the back of the net, and Babson scored two second half goals, sending the team back to California with a split. Conference play starts tomorrow at home vs. Cal Lutheran.

The 21st ranked Athena Soccer team, after demoralizing Pac Lutheran 5-1 to start their season, traveled to St. Louis this past weekend. Their first game was against the 20th ranked Washington Bears, and things looked good as Nicole Sady-Kennedy (SR, CMC) gave the Athenas a 1-0 lead off a nice pass from Giselle Galanto (SR, CMC). Unfortuantely the Athena offense stalled after that point, while WashU scored three unanswered goals, taking the game 3-1. In their second game, vs. Webster college, the Athenas found themselves down 1-0. Not wanting to head back to Claremont without a win, CMS rallied for four straight goals, and the Athenas held on for a 4-2 win. The Athenas wil travel to Cal Lutheran tomorrow to begin their SCIAC title defense, and then host La Verne at 11am on Saturday.

The Athena volleyball team sits at 3-5 on the season, with a number of top 25 teams on their challenging schedule in front of them, including 6thranked La Verne, the nine-time defending SCIAC champions. However, the Athena team is hopeful, as they had two close five game losses which could have gone either way, including a 2-3 decision to Texas Lutheran, which knocked off La Verne the following day. Two newcomers are making big impacts for the team. Allie Macy (JR, CMC), a transfer from Concordia University, is leading the team in kills, with 75, while Taylor Jones (FR, CMC) leads the team in sets, averaging more than 8 a game. The women will host La Sierra and Dickinson this Friday at 4 and 7 respectively, before a big matchup against P-P next Tuesday.

The Men’s Water Polo team has had some encouraging results, as they prepare to take on their regional rivals. The Stags began their season at MIT for an invitational. Although holding a two goal lead in the fourth quarter, and then also taking a lead in overtime, the Stags dropped a triple overtime decision to Brown in their first game of the season. They rebounded later in the invitational to knock off Harvard and M.I.T., earning a split on the road trip. The Stags came back to California this past weekend, and dropped three contests to nationally ranked teams, including eighth ranked UC-Irvine, but also picked up a win against La Verne. The Stags will head to Cal Lutheran for a tournament with a number of top teams in the region.