CLAREMONT, Calif. -
Amelia Ulmer scored six goals and
Ella Brown added five as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's lacrosse team took a 20-10 win over Whitman in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer's Merritt Field.
With the win, CMS improves to 13-5 on the year and advances to the regional finals tomorrow at 1 p.m. to take on Pomona-Pitzer.
The Athenas led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter, but had to withstand a second-half rally from Whitman, which closed from down 11-2 at the half to within 12-8, before CMS scored six goals in a row to put it away.
Ulmer opened the scoring 38 seconds in, and
Ella Seidel,
Cate Lewison and
Ella Brown rattled off three goals in a row in s span of 50 seconds to make it 4-0. Brown and Ulmer then scored goals while CMS was a player down just 27 seconds apart to extend the lead to 6-0. Brown finished off a first-quarter hat trick with 4:20 left, and Grance Minturn scored with 20 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 8-0.
Minturn started the second quarter with a goal to extend the lead to 9-0, and Ulmer and Seidel each answered Whitman goals to make it 11-2 going into halftime.
A
Kit Haggard goal stretched the lead to 12-3 early in the third quarter, before Whitman went on a 5-0 run to close to within 12-8 with 3:21 left in the third. Minturn stopped the run with her third goal and then fed Brown for a goal with 27 seconds left in the third to make it 14-8 going into the final stanza.
Ulmer scored three more goals in the final period to give her six for the game, while
Eleanor Shen picked up the 20th CMS goal.
Minturn finished with five assists and three goals to tie Ulmer for team-high honors with eight points.
Julia Ryan had 15 draw controls and three caused turnovers, while
Lyla Johnston had seven saves in the first half, allowing two goals, to get the win.
CMS will attempt to defeat Pomona-Pitzer for the first time in four tries this season to advance to the NCAA Regionals. The Athenas fell just 10-8 to the Sagehens in the first meeting this year, but Pomona-Pitzer won the most recent one 18-10 in the SCIAC Finals.
