CLAREMONT, Calif. -
James Gomez scored two goals and
Matteo Quadrini added one as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team earned a 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran on Wednesday evening at Nakasone Field.
The win moves CMS to 9-5-3 overall and 6-3-2 in the SCIAC and into second place in the league standings, after La Verne's tie with Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday. The Stags can clinch the right to host a league semifinal with a win over Whittier on Saturday in its regular season finale.
Gomez scored the first goal when he won a 50-50 ball along the left sideline, and beat a Cal Lutheran defender to get into the box. He then slipped a low shot into the lower right corner to put the Stags up 1-0 at the 28:32 mark.
The Stags extended their lead to 2-0 with just 1:38 left in the half, when
Daniel Zhu played a long ball up the right sideline.
Clayton Thomas ran onto it and sent a cross into the top of the box, and Quadrini had a sliding goal, one-timing it into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Gomez then made it a brace just over 10 minutes into the second half, when he took a short pass from
Dane Knudsen and cut across the top of the penalty area. He then bent a shot from 25 yards out that dipped into the upper-right corner, giving him seven goals on the season.
CMS held a 24-19 advantage in shots, and
Axel Jimenez came through with seven saves to get the shutout, including a key one when he came off his line to stop a breakaway in the first half and keep the Stags ahead 1-0.
At halftime, CMS dedicated the Stephen T. Davis Scoreboard at Nakasone Field, named in honor of former head coach Steve Davis, who won 20 SCIAC Championships with the Stags in his tenure from 1969-97, and led CMS to the Division III national championship game in 1983.
CMS will travel to Whittier on Saturday, looking to close out the regular season with a win and secure home field for the conference tournament.
