WHITTIER, Calif. - For the fourth time this season, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's soccer team won a game it trailed in the second half, as it scored twice in the final 15 minutes to earn a 2-1 road win over Whittier in its regular season finale on Saturday.
With the win, CMS closes the regular season at 10-5-3 overall and 7-3-2 in the SCIAC. The Stags came into the game knowing they were locked into the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Tournament, and they will open up postseason play by hosting No. 3 La Verne on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Top-seeded Redlands defeated La Verne earlier in the day on Saturday to clinch the second seed for the Stags. Whittier finishes at 5-6-7 and 4-5-3 and will be the No. 5 seed, opening at No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer.
Collin Ross assisted on the tying goal from
Nico McKee with 12:39 left in the game, and then scored the game-winner with 6:36 left off a pass from
Sean Lee.
The Poets had a chance to move up to the No. 4 seed with a win, and went ahead 1-0 on a penalty kick late in the first half. However, the Stags were able to get the result with some timely goals at the end of the game. Ross set up the first one with a cross to the far post that McKee was able to one-time into the net to level the game at a goal apiece. Lee then battled for a loose ball inside the box in the 84th minute and sent a cross to the far post, that Ross was able to head into the net from inside the six-yard box to give the Stags the win.
The regular season began and ended in the same fashion for CMS, as the Stags used two goals in the final 15 minutes to defeat UC Santa Cruz 3-2 on opening day on Sept. 1. In that one, Lee tied it in the 77th minute with his second goal of the game, and then fed
Daniel Zhu for the game-winner in the 88th minute.
CMS also trailed Cal Lutheran 1-0 in the second half before Zhu scored twice for a 2-1 win, and then the Stags scored twice in the second half to come back to defeat Occidental 2-1 on Oct. 10 with
Samir Bouhamama tying it up, and
Eric Grossman-Glover heading in the game-winner in the 82nd minute.
In addition to the four wins, the Stags came back for three ties this year when it trailed in the second half, rallying from 2-0 down to tie Wheaton 2-2 on Sept. 12 on goals from
Matteo Quadrini and
Clayton Thomas, and scoring second-half goals for 1-1 ties with Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands, from Thomas and Lee, respectively.
CMS finished with a 15-12 edge in shots against Whittier, and an 8-5 edge in corner kicks. Ross led the Stags with four shots, three of which were on target, and
Axel Jimenez had four saves to get the win in goal.
The Stags will face La Verne on Thursday to try to advance to Sunday's SCIAC Championship. CMS won the conference title at home two years ago, when it knocked off Occidental 2-1 in the semifinals, and then defeated No. 5-seed Chapman 5-1 in the championship game.
