CLAREMONT, Calif. - The third-seeded La Verne men's soccer team scored twice in each half as it took a 4-0 win over second-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday evening at Nakasone Field.
With the win, La Verne improves to 8-5-7 and advances to Sunday's championship game, when it will host fourth-seeded Whittier, which upset regular season champion Redlands 2-1. CMS ends its season with a 10-6-3 record.
La Verne got its first two goals just over four minutes apart, as Isaiah Barber scored in the 24th minute on a header, and Alexander Bastidas added another in the 28th minute in a scramble off a corner kick.
The Leopards extended the lead to 3-0 in the 60th minute and Julian Arellano added another in the 74th minute to seal it.
La Verne held a 17-14 advantage in shots, and Joshua Simonton was able to make seven saves to get the shutout win for the Leopards.
Axel Jimenez had seven saves for CMS, which was led in shots by
Jaishan Sharma with three.
CMS will look to get back to the postseason next year, after losing only three seniors off this year's squad,
Eric Grossman-Glover,
Alex Sondergaard and
James Gomez.
