CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Colby women's soccer team scored a late-first half goal against the run of play and held on to take a 1-0 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament at MIT. 

CMS ends its season at 13-4-3, while Colby improves to 12-4-3 and advances to face MIT in tomorrow's regional finals. 

The Athenas took the game's first seven shots, forcing Colby goalie MK Marshall to make three saves in the opening 15 minutes. Kaitlyn Helfrich's seventh shot of the game in the 28th minute was saved off the line by a Colby defender, and just five minutes later, Colby scored on its first shot of the game to go ahead 1-0 on a goal from Abigail Jarvi. 

Sadie Brown made two saves in the closing minutes of the first half to prevent CMS from falling in a 2-0 hole, while Annie McKinley forced another Marshall save with a shot off a corner kick. 

Ava Schmitt forced Marshall into a save just 1:30 into the second half to force a corner kick, and Emma Fogg's shot off the corner missed high. Colby was able to settle in as the second half drew on and CMS was unable to test Marshall in the final 25 minutes as the White Mules held on after a last-minute effort from Tori Holden missing high. 

CMS finished with a 15-7 edge in shots, and an 8-2 advantage in corner kicks, but were denied advancing in their first NCAA appearance since winning an NCAA Regional in 2019 despite a strong overall performance in the contest.

The Athenas will look to make it back to the NCAA Tournament again next year, although it must replace Schmitt, Helfrich, Fogg, McKinley, Holden and Gigi Adiyia from a talented senior class.