CLAREMONT, Calif. - Tori Holden scored with 20:43 left in regulation to break a scoreless deadlock and give the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's soccer team a 1-0 win over Occidental on Wednesday evening at Pritzlaff Field. 

With the win, CMS moves to 9-2-3 overall and 7-2 in the SCIAC, pulling into a tight battle for first in the league standings with Pomona-Pitzer (8-1-1) and Cal Lutheran (8-2) with just 10 days left in the regular season. 

Occidental battled the Athenas tight for most of the way, before Holden provided the game-winner. Frankie Fragola started the play from the left wing, where she sent a low cross to the top of the six-yard box. Kaitlyn Helfrich shielded a defender and laid the ball laterally to Holden, who was able to one-time a shot into the left side of the net.

CMS hit the crossbar twice, once in each half, as Ava Schmitt hit the bar from the left side of the field with a 25-yard rocket in the first half. In the second half, a mirror image of the same shot off the foot of Annika Marshall hit the bar at the opposite end of the field. 

CMS finished with a 14-1 edge in shots, with a majority coming in the first half (11-1), when Occidental goalie Melanie Rodriguez had nine saves to keep the Tigers in it. Center backs Ivy Doran and Annie McKinley helped keep Occidental out of the CMS penalty box for the entire contest, with outside backs Marshall, Carmel Randolph and Ava Allen also having key roles in the shutout. 

The Athenas will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Caltech, hoping to pick up three more points in their pursuit of a league title, with a difficult closing week next week with games at fourth-place Whittier and at home against league-leading Pomona-Pitzer.