Men’s Soccer

The Stags soccer team fell to Whittier last Wednesday, October 25, which allowed Redlands (undefeated in conference play) to secure their 11th straight conference championship. Whittier put in two goals in the first twenty minutes of the match and became only the third team to shut out CMS this season. The Stags bounced back this weekend with a decisive 8-1 win over La Verne. Junior forward Jared Bernstein, who is having a break out year for the Stags and currently leads the team in goals, recorded his first career hat trick. With the win, CMS clinched a spot in the SCIAC tournament and will enter the tournament with the second or third seed depending on the results of their final games.

Women’s Volleyball

The Athenas finished the week with three conference wins and extended their winning streak to seven games. On Tuesday, October 25, the Athenas beat rival Pomona-Pitzer in three straight sets. CMS went on to win back-to-back road games on Friday and Saturday over Redlands and La Verne. Against a team that they lost to back in September, the 3-1 win over La Verne was crucial and moved the Athenas into a tie with Occidental for second place in the conference. The win also improved the Athenas’ chances at a high seed in the SCIAC tournament.

Football

The Stags kept their playoff hopes alive on Saturday, October 22, with a come from behind victory at Whittier College. The Stags’ defense, which has been generally tough against the run this season, gave up three long drives in the first half that led to scores and CMS went into the half down 17-7. Things didn’t look like they were going to get better after the Stags gave up a 65 yard drive in 11 plays on Whittier’s  opening possession of the second half. The drive was capped off by a nine-yard touchdown pass and CMS found themselves down 24-7. However, on CMS’s next possession junior running back Corey Bickler broke free for a 66-yard run to put the Stags back in the game. On the ensuing kickoff junior kicker Chet Corcos recovered his own onside kick, which gave the Stags the momentum. With the great field position the Stags found the end zone again and pulled within three of the Poets. In the fourth quarter Whittier responded with a 45-yard touchdown pass (missed extra point) to put them up 30-20. Unable to respond with a touchdown of their own on the next drive, the Stags settled for a field goal and with only eight minutes left on the clock decided to try for another onside kick. The Stags recovered successfully for the second time in the game and drove down 54 yards capped off by junior quarterback Peter Kimmey’s third touchdown on the day to put the Stags up 31-30 and seal the come-from-behind win.

Women’s Soccer

CMS hosted Whittier on Wednesday, October 26, and came back after a shaky start to defeat the Poets 7-3. Whittier scored in the third minute of the game off a corner and although sophomore Shauny Ullman responded with a goal for the Athenas two minutes later, Whittier put in a second goal of their own in the same minute and went up 2-1. However, in the 17th minute junior midfielder Laurel Phillips scored and sparked a run of three unanswered goals for CMS. The Athenas were able to take control of the match and went on to win 7-3. On Saturday the Athenas traveled to La Verne and secured a playoff birth with a 2-0 win over the Leos.

Men’s Water Polo

Stags polo put together back-to-back conference wins this past week with a 10-8 win over rival Pomona-Pitzer and a 18-5 win over Cal Tech. CMS rallied from behind against the Sagehens and scored four straight goals in the second quarter to take control of the game. Sophomore John Holland finished the game with four goals. The Stags are currently undefeated (4-0) in conference play and stand alone at the top of the SCIAC.

Upcoming

Men’s Soccer

Following a 3-1 loss to Redlands last night, the Stags are looking to secure the number 2 seed in the SCIAC tournament in their final game of the season at Cal Tech on Saturday.

Women’s Volleyball

Coming off their eighth straight win on Monday, the Athenas look to finish their spectacular season with 20 wins. Currently tied for second place, CMS will be at Cal Tech on Friday. The game starts at 7:30.

Football

The Stags playoff chances will be decided on Saturday at Cal Lutheran. CMS needs to pull off an upset against the Kingsmen who are currently undefeated in conference if they want a chance at making the playoffs. The two teams kickoff at 1:00.

Women’s Soccer

The Athenas finished conference play last week and secured a spot in the SCIAC tournament. CMS finishes the regular season with two non-conference matches in Santa Cruz against William Jessup and UC Santa Cruz on Friday and Saturday.

Men’s Water Polo

The Stags will be looking to stay undefeated in conference play at Cal Lutheran on Saturday at 11:00.

Cross Country

This Saturday is the men’s and women’s SCIAC championships in Chino, CA. Races will start at 8:30 am.

Remember, you can watch/listen to every home sports game LIVE on the Forum. Click here for all broadcasts.

by Drew Beckerman

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags defeated the CalTech Beavers 18-5 to improve to 10-9 on the season and an undefeated 3-0 in conference play.

The Stags opened the game up strong, as they scored a goal on all three of their opening possessions to take a quick 3-0 lead. However, the Beavers refused to let down and ended up trading goals with CMS until the score was 6-4 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. From this point on, CMS goalie Will Ferenc would play lights out. Ferenc would only let up one more goal in the game (on a penalty shot nonetheless) as he would compile 10 saves, many of which in brilliant fashion. The offense would support Ferenc magnificently, as CMS would outscore CalTech 12-1 over the final two-and-a-half quarters as they cruised to an 18-5 victory.

The CMS offense was a very well-rounded attack, as 11 different players were able to put the ball in the back of the net. The Stags were led by Ari Wes who tallied 3 goals, followed by Michael Lee, John Holland, Vincent Schiavoni, Jenson Tuomi, and McClatchy Ruskin all registering two goals, while Maarten Lefor, Huston Middlesworth, Daniel Polyakov, Josh Thomasson, and Greg Mann all adding a goal of their own. Huston Middlesworth did a great job distributing the ball as he assisted on four goals, while Brian Baier and Brian Downs both totaled three assists each.
For the next two weeks, the Stags will hit the road to face Redlands, Cal Lutheran, and La Verne in three conference matches, but will be home again on November 5th to play Occidental.

Pre-Game Coverage

In this game, one team is aspiring to defend its SCIAC title, while the another is striving towards it.

Live Broadcast

The live audio and video coverage will begin at 10:50 AM as play starts at 11 AM. You can catch all of the live action on this page! Today’s broadcast will be brought to you by Drew Beckerman (CMC ’13) and Matthew Kwok (PZ ’15).

You can see the video on the embedded player below! or this link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cms-athletics

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions about Sports Broadcasting at the Claremont Colleges, please email Broadcasting@ClaremontSportsConnection.com

Women’s Soccer

The Athenas faced off against Occidental for the second time this season on Wednesday night. Coming off three straight losses and a shutout against California Lutheran, CMS was looking to keep their hopes of a playoff birth alive against a team they shutout 2-0 back on September 17th. Although the Tigers were able to apply pressure early and put in an equalizer to tie the game at one, senior forward Michelle Barnhill regained the lead for CMC with a go ahead goal five minutes later. Michelle’s younger sister Ashley put in a goal of her own and CMS went on to win 5-1. On Saturday, the Athenas took on rival Pomona-Pitzer looking to move into second place in the conference. The Sagehens scored in the first half off a follow up shot and went into halftime up 1-0. The Athena’s leading scorer Madi Shove responded five minutes into the second half off an assist from senior forward Lizzie Buskirk and put in the equalizer. Both teams had their chances during the remainder of the match, but neither side was able to capitalize and the match finished in a 1-1 tie. The two teams are now 5-3-1 in conference play and tied for second in the SCIAC behind Cal Lutheran.

Men’s Soccer

CMS won back-to-back games this week defeating Occidental on Wednesday night 5-1 and rival Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday 5-1. Junior forward Harrison Doyle scored twice against Oxy in a five-minute span recording his fifth and sixth goals of the season. Senior midfielder Sam Ullman and freshman forward Jake Bishop had their own pairs of goals in the 5-1 win at Pomona. CMS increased their playoff chances with the two wins this week and are now 6-2-1 in conference play and in second place in the SCIAC behind undefeated Redlands.

Football

Redlands and Cal Lutheran were the pre-season favorites to win the SCIAC and both teams are currently ranked in the top 25. CMS took on #14 Redlands on Saturday and proved that they shouldn’t have been looked over as conference contenders. The Stags recovered their opening onside kickoff and scored on their opening drive, pulling all of the tricks out of the hat including a half back pass. Senior running back Alex Wheatley capped off the opening drive with a four yard touchdown run. CMS dominated the majority of the first half until Redlands picked off a pass in the final two minutes. The turnover turned into a Redlands score, but the half ended with CMS still on top 21-10. With a comfortable lead the Stags offense played much more conservatively in the second half, but never found the red zone. Their only score of the second half was a 49 yard field goal put in by junior Chet Corcos. Redlands busted off a huge 89 yard run in the opening minutes of the third quarter and went on to tie the game 24-24 with a 31 yard touchdown later in the quarter. Both teams battled it out in the fourth quarter and the game looked as it if would go into overtime, but with one second left on the clock Redlands was able to get off a 42 yard Hail Mary that somehow found wide receiver Taylor Irwin. Due to the heartbreaking loss, CMS now must win their last four games including an away game against #12 Cal Lutheran if they want to make a playoff appearance.

Cross Country

The Athenas upheld their #4 ranking with a first place finish at the SCIAC Multi-Dual meet on Saturday and finished with five runners in the top seven. Senior Jenifer Tavé lead the team in the women’s 6k with a second place overall finish (22:14.97) and was followed by fellow senior Breanna Deutsch (22:35.86) who finished fourth overall and sophomore Adele Eslinger who finished fifth and set a personal best with a time of 22:48.49. Having only one runner in the top ten really hurt the Stags. Rafer Dannenhauer lead the team with a sixth place overall finish, but CMS was forced to settle for third overall in the meet.

Women’s Volleyball

The Athenas competed in the Cal Lutheran tournament on Friday and Saturday. CMS played all non-conference games and finished 4-0 with wins against Widener, Lycoming, Mary Washington, and Wisconsin Lutheran. The Athenas are currently in third place and three games behind Cal Lutheran who are undefeated in conference play.

Men’s Water Polo

The Stags opened up conference play on Sunday at home against Whittier. Sophomore John Holland put in the first goal for the Stags off a 5-meter penalty shot and sparked the offense who went on to score 7 goals in the first half and take a 7-1 lead over the poets. A six goal third quarter helped the Stags seal the win over Whittier. Seniors Brian Chong and Vincent Schiavoni finished the match with four goals each and CMS went on to defend their 2010 conference championship with a 17-8 win.

Upcoming

Women’s Soccer

The Athenas continue their second round of conference play this week taking on Whittier at home on Wednesday at 7:00 pm. You can listen to a live broadcast of this game here. On Saturday they travel to La Verne to take on the last place Leopards. CMS is currently tied with Pomona-Pitzer for second place in the conference.

Men’s Soccer

Second place CMS plays at Whittier on Wednesday and hosts La Verne on Saturday at 1:00. You can listen to a live broadcast of this game here.

Football

The Stags look to keep their playoff hopes alive this weekend on the road against Whittier. Kickoff is at 3:00.

Volleyball

The Athenas are on the road Friday and Saturday with back-to-back conference games against Redlands and Laverne. The Athenas face off against Redland on Friday at 7:30.

Water Polo

The Stags will look to defend their conference championship this week with two conference games against rival Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday and Caltech on Saturday. You can listen to a live broadcast of these games here.

On Saturday, October 1, Claremont Mudd Scripps football opened up conference play at the University of La Verne. The Stags were forced to battle back early after watching their senior Quarterback, Patrick Rooney, carried off the field on a stretcher in addition to giving up an early 55 yard touchdown pass. Junior Quarterback, Peter Kimmey, stepped up and showed composure going 14-29 and capped off a come from behind win with a touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to sophomore Wide Receiver Greg Wilson. The CMS defense set the tone in the second half and helped keep the team in the game by forcing 5 three-and-outs. Junior Cornerback Kyle Hansen sealed the comeback with an interception late in the fourth. Junior Kicker, Chet Corcos, was clutch in nailing four field goals for the Stags.

Men’s soccer suffered a tough conference loss to Redlands on Saturday, October 1 falling to the Bulldogs, who are currently undefeated, 3-0. The Stags outshot Redlands 27-14, but could not put one in and were shut out for only the second time this season. CMS is now 3-2-1 in conference play and fourth place in the SCIAC.

Women’s soccer also lost to Redlands in an extremely close match that came down to the final minutes. The Athenas played solid in the first half, putting in an early goal courtesy of junior Madi Shove (her fifth of the year). Sophomore Keeper, Hannah Dunham, and the CMS defense were also solid in the first half and lead the Athenas into half time up 1-0. However, Redlands struck early in the second half to tie it up. Later in the half sophomore Defender, Amy Hershberger, went down with a leg injury and as the play continued a Redlands forward was able to sneak past the vulnerable CMS defense and put in the go-ahead goal. The Athenas battled back and took multiple shots in the closing minutes of the game, but could not convert and ended up losing 2-1.

Cross country competed in the Pomona-Pitzer Invite on Saturday, October 1. Dan Maxwell and Tyler Robinson were the first Stags to finish in the 8k and lead CMS to a 10th place overall finish. The women finished seventh overall and beat four SCIAC teams. Adele Eslinger and Lisa Beem finished first and second for the Athenas in the 6k with times of 23:13.7 and 23:16.8 (30th and 31st overall).

Following a great week with two conference wins, women’s volleyball traveled to #25 Occidental. The two teams battled it out in the first three matches, but the Athenas entered the fourth match up 2-1. Occidental looked as if they were going to force a fifth match, but the Athenas came from behind and Freshman Regina Mullen finished the upset with a game-ending kill in front of a stunned Occidental crowd. The Athena’s recent strong play and three straight conference wins has put them in a three-way tie for second place in the SCIAC.

Stags Polo finished 2-2 at the Lancer Invite on Saturday, October 1. CMS came close to upsetting #16 Cal Baptist in their opener, but ended up losing 16-15. Brian Chong led the match in scores with 7. Chong continued his solid play and helped the Stags knock off NAIA Vanguard University in their second match. On Sunday, the Stags went on to lose to #10 Concordia 17-6 and finished the day with a 13-7 win in their home pool against Riverside Community College.

Upcoming:

Stags football is at Chapman University on Saturday, October 8 at 7:00 pm. CMS will look to continue its two game winning streak.

Men’s soccer, currently ranked fourth in the SCIAC, takes on California Lutheran at home this Saturday, October 8 at 1:00 pm. You can listen to a live broadcast of this game here. The women will also be at California Lutheran at the same time Saturday.

Women’s volleyball will look to ride the momentum from their recent upset over Oxy and continue their four game winning streak at Cal Lutheran on Friday, October 7 at 7:30 pm.

Stags Polo opens up the 19th Annual Convergence Tournament against Fordham on Friday, October 7. The two face off at 12:40. You can listen to a live broadcast of this game here.

by Jonah Chodosh

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags enter the day 5-8 after playing some talented division 1 opponents early in the season, looking for a strong start to The Claremont Convergence weekend.  Their opponents, the George Washington University Colonels, enter the day 6-8, hoping for a successful west coast tour. Head to the CMS pool for an exciting, fast-paced game!

Live Broadcast

The live audio and video coverage will begin at 4:35 PM as play starts at 4:40 PM. You can catch all of the live action on this page! Today’s broadcast will be brought to you by Jonah Chodosh (CMC ’12) and Schuyler Kruizenga (CMC ’12).

You can see the video on the embedded player below! or this link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cms-athletics

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions about Sports Broadcasting at the Claremont Colleges, please email Broadcasting@ClaremontSportsConnection.com

Photo credit courtesy of CMS Intramural website

Adam Pruett, the new IM director at CMS, explained the reasoning behind the shift, “The biggest thing is the need for our campus to go digital. It’s sustainable, meaning we’re not killing trees, and students are online. While it’s not perfect, the two major things that make it good for us is that it’s free, and it centralizes things. Rather than sending out e-mail to students that will get deleted right away, students now have one site they can go to to get information.”

Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps all participate in the CMS intramural sports league. At CMC, intramural teams are divided by either dormitory or self-organized teams registered with Athleague.

While the shift to using the Athleague website standardizes intramurals on campus, it also makes IMs less of an inclusive, laid-back environment. Sophomore Kelsey Gross, dorm bra last year for Berger and this year for Claremont Hall, explains that the shift to using Athleague has brought about a change in the event. “Intramurals are way more competitive this year because the focus is on tournament play versus league play. Because of this, there are fewer games scheduled and unless your team is really good, you don’t get to play as many games.”

Pruett acknowledges the switch to more competitive IM events, but also stresses that the recreational side of intramurals is still present. “There are two different tracts people participating in intramurals can take. Now, the students have the choice on whether they want to play recreationally [sic] or competitively. While students can play with their dorms, they can also create their own, more competitive teams with whomever they choose from Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, or Scripps.”

Certain intramurals remain more dorm-based, like inner tube water-polo, while for others, like flag football, students can create their own teams. This tends to the more competitive edge and Pruett mentions that flag football and basketball are two of the sports becoming more competitive.  He points to the fact that there are even IM championships at other colleges as signs of this.  Pruett said that the IM basketball champion at CMS will be sent to compete at the regional level at University of Nevada-Las Vegas in March.

The switch to using Athleague has opened up several opportunities for students to take intramurals to the next level.  Christina Khavarian’12, one of six IM supervisors along with Travis Roher CMC ’11, Chris Blees CMC ’11, Emily Jovais SC ’13, Bayley Clarke SC ’13, Elsa Watlandand SC ’13, claimed she noticed a downfall in participation in intramurals this year.

Khavarian explained, “From hearing the opinions of many students on IM sports …this year, there have been a variety of reasons [for] the decrease in participation of CMCers. Some say creating a team on Athleague and having to continuously check it for game times is a hassle. Others say that their dorm jocks & bras aren’t doing as good of job as they hoped, and the game times are inconvenient.”

Khavarian also notes the lack of  advertisement around campus. “Historically there have been sign ups at the dining hall, posters around campus, word of mouth and Facebook. This is not to say Athleague shouldn’t be used, but I don’t believe it should be the sole form of advertisement.”

Pruett notes this lack of communication as a problem, stressing that students now have to be more proactive than in the past in signing up for events. “The switch to Athleague came as a bit of a shock to a lot of students and it’s still too early to say whether or not it has been successful. Students are now more responsible and it takes a little bit of accountability for the student to go on the website and look up game times.”

Pruett has high hopes for the future, hoping one day to expand the IM program to all of the 5Cs. He also mentioned that he remains flexible to student’s needs. “I’m able to adapt. If students want to change rules, all they have to do is propose it.”

What do you have planned for your long weekend? While many are going home to relax for a bit, there is no doubt that the campus has also been buzzing with plans for autumn adventures of many kinds. A handful of students are roadtripping up the coast to San Francisco to start the Pirate Party a bit early at Treasure Island, a music festival featuring LCD Soundsystem, Belle & Sebastian, Deadmau5, Miike Snow, The National, Broken Social Scene, She & Him and Kruder & Dorfmeister, among other acts. Some may not make it all the way to the Golden Gate City, opting to channel their inner Kerouac on the shores of Big Sur. Other students are making their way to Vegas to play some golf and put their math majors to work at the blackjack tables, hopefully to return with stories comparable to The Hangover.

For those that are planning to stick around CMC, there are some cool things going on in the area:

• Some athletic events will be taking place on campus: Go cheer for the Stags in their water polo match vs. Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 7 pm in the Pendleton Pool (Pomona). Stags Soccer also goes to battle on Saturday, at 1 pm on Pritzlaff against the Occidental Tigers.
• It’s Los Angeles so you can bet there will be concerts in the area. On Saturday, The National will be playing at the Fox Theater in Pomona. Mumford & Sons will be playing at the Hollywood Palladium on Monday night. On Tuesday, Ra Ra Riot will be at the Glass House in Pomona.
• Take the opportunity on Sunday to go check out the Claremont Farmer’s Market in the Village from 8 am to 1 pm.
  

  Photo Credit: Caroline Nyce

• For those that are of age, the California Beer Festival will be making its stop in Claremont on Saturday, so buy a ticket here and head down to try out some of the “best craft beers from around the world.”
• Grab a book (that was not assigned to read? My goodness!) and a blanket and drive the 20 minutes up to Mt. Baldy to take in some fresh air and Mother Earth right in the Inland Empire’s back yard.
• Are the palm trees bringing down your autumn spirits? Five minutes away, Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Ranch is having a Pumpkin Festival this weekend. You can spend forever searching through the thousands of pumpkins (all $5) for the roundest one, then relive your younger, flannel-clad days of pumpkin carving. The natural apple cider, popcorn balls and honey sticks at the Ranch’s Farm Store should also not be missed.

Some logistics for staying on campus over fall break (in case you missed Dean Castro’s e-mail):

• No school on Monday or Tuesday, so see you all in class on Wednesday (October 20th).
• RAs on duty:

• Collins will be serving dinner Friday, but the wonderful people that nourish us four times a day are taking a break too, so Collins will not be open over the long weekend. It will open back up on Tuesday night for dinner at 5pm.
• However, for those staying on campus, you have some options. Frary and Scripps will be open during the following hours:

Andrew Cosentino (CMC JR) was named to the All-SCIAC first team for the second straight year. Photo Credit: Gary Stephenson.

Women’s Volleyball
A young team, graduating only one senior (Jamie Matusiak (CMC)) finished a rocky season at 14-15 overall and tied for 5th in SCIAC competition with a 6-8 conference record. Allie Macy (CMC JR) OH and Taylor Jones (CMC FR) S were named to the All-SCIAC second team.

Women’s Soccer
One of the most dominant seasons in Athena’s soccer included a nine-game winning streak, an undefeated SCIAC campaign, and a second straight SCIAC tournament title before falling in the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament. Laura Hagen (CMC SR) was selected as SCIAC Player of the Year, leading the league in assists, and 2nd in goals scored.  First Team All-SCIAC selections included goalie Camila Friedman-Gerlicz (CMC SR), defender Stefanie Chan (CMC JR) and midfielder Nicole Sady-Kennedy (CMC SR). Defender Courtney Funk (SCR SR), midfielder Kirsten McAfee (HMC JR), forward Giselle Galanto (CMC SR) and utility player Julia Nishioka (CMC SO) were named to the Second team.  We finished 16-3-2 overall and 10-0-2 in SCIAC play.

Men’s Soccer
After a fourth place finish in the regular season, the Stags knocked off top seed Pomona and second seed Redlands to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000. They continued their magic run in the NCAAs, winning at Santa Cruz before falling in the round of 32 to Whitworth.  Goalie Ryan Fahey (CMC SR), defender Tomislav Zbozinek (CMC SR), midfielder Michael Nguyentat (CMC JR), and forward Harrison Doyle (CMC FR) were named to the All-SCIAC first team. Midfielder David Taylor (CMC FR) was a Second Team All-SCIAC selection.  We finished 12-8-2 overall and 8-5-1 against SCIAC foes.

Football
After a 2-0 start, including the seniors’ first victory over regional rival Puget Sound, the Stags went into a mid-season funk, losing four of their next five games. However, strong performances by the defense, QB Pat Rooney (CMC SO) and DJ Lillard (CMC SR) helped the team win their final two games, clinching a winning season and retaining the Peace Pipe. First team SCIAC selections were running back DJ Lillard, linebacker Dan Picciotto, (CMC SR), and defensive back Brock Olson (CMC SR). Offensive tackle Matt Pautler, (CMC JR) and defensive lineman Rory Baird, JR, (CMC JR) were named to the second team. The Stags finished 5-4 overall and an even 3-3 in SCIAC play.

Men’s Cross Country
The men finished a strong season in 15^th at NCAAs after winning the West Region and SCIAC titles. All-Region honors for the men included Kramer Straube (HMC JR) 4^th, Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR), Florian Scheulen (HMC SR), Brian Sutter (CMC FR), Georgi Dinolov (HMC JR) and Matt Kurtis (HMC SR). First Team All-SCIAC selections were Straube, Kopczynski Kris Brown (CMC JR), and Sutter. Second Team All-SCIAC selections for the Stags were Scheulen, Kurtis, Dinolov, and Dillon Ayers (HMC JR).

Women’s Cross Country
The women finished 22^nd at NCAAs, besting conference rivals Redlands and Occidental in their final two meets, after finishing behind these two in the SCIAC championships   Jennifer Tavé (SCR SO) finished 27^th to become the first Athena All-American runner since 2005, also earning First team All-SCIAC honors and All-Region honors. All-Region honors for the women also included, Julia Rigby (SCR SO), and Breanna Deutsch (SCR SO). Rigby and Ashley Scott (CMC JR) were named to the All-SCIAC second team.

Men’s Tennis
Robert Erani (CMC SO) won the West Regional tournament and finished in 3rd place at the ITA nationals to earn All-American honors for the first time in his  budding career.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA West Region Meet across the street at Pomona. The Stags took first place honors as the only team with three runners (Kramer Straube (HMC JR) 4^th, Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR) 6^th, Florian Scheulen (HMC SR) 9^th in the top 10. This was the first West Region victory since 2001 for the Stags, and qualifies the team for NCAAs. The women finished a promising 3rd, rebounding from a disappointing performance at SCIACs by finishing ahead of 1st place Occidental and 2nd place Pomona-Pitzer, and qualifying for NCAAs. Jennifer Tavé (SCR SO) 2^nd, Julia Rigby (SCR SO) 11^th anchored the Athenas as they have all season. The D3 NCAA championships are being hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, OH this Saturday, November 21. The men will look to improve on their 30th place finish from last year, and the women on their 20th place finish.

The men’s Water Polo team competed in the SCIAC tournament at home and had two big upsets before falling in the final. After a 10-8 victory over 4th seeded Cal Lutheran, the aquatic Stags drew the number one ranked team in division 3 in Whittier in the semi-finals. After falling behind 2-0 in the first quarter, the men rebounded to tie the score 3-all at the half. The back and forth game saw the Stags continue to jump ahead of the Poets, but it seemed as if Whittier had an answer for everything. However, after Whittier scored to tie the game at 5-5 in the fourth quarter, Greg Sanford (CMC JR) put the Stags up 6-5 on the ensuing possession. Whittier then brought the house on the Stags defense, not wanting to lose their undefeated season. The men held strong, shutting down the Poets, including a 6 on 5 advantage in the waning moments of the game, giving themselves a SCIAC final birth. Unfortunately the Cinderella run ended for the Stags in the finals, dropping a 4-2 tilt to Redlands in the SCIAC final.

Dan Picciotto and Brock Olson celebrate their win over Pomona-Pitzer. Photo credit: Gary Stephenson

In the Peace Pipe game, the Stags drew first blood on a 23 yd scramble by Patrick Rooney (CMC SO), but P-P responded, scoring twice to put the Sagehens up 14-7. At the end of the second half, the Stags drove 51 yards in two minutes, capped by a D.J. Lillard (CMC SR) Touchdown run, but the PAT was blocked, giving P-P a 14-13 advantage at halftime. After a pep talk by their coach, and and a pumped up 5c dance company performance, the Stags came back strong, with Mikey Hirokawa (CMC SR) catching a 39 yard TD pass after three consecutive P-P drives ended by interceptions, 2 by Brock Olson (CMC SR), and 1 by Dan Picciotto (CMC SR). After a two point conversion, the Stags went back up 21-14. P-P responded on their next posession to tie the game at 21, but Mikey Hirokawa returned a kickoff 73 yards to the P-P 3 yard line, and Nick Marineau (CMC SR) caught a Pat Rooney pass for the final score of the game. P-P threatened on their final drive, but could not get past the CMS defense. The Stags won the peace pipe for the third year in a row and finished with their first winning season since 2003 at (5-4, 3-3 SCIAC).

• CMS has the two top ranked male golfers in Division III in Tain Lee CM ’12 and John Morris CM ’10, according to Golfstat.com, and coach Bim Jollymour recently stated this was the most talented team he has had in his nine year coaching career.
• Robbie Erani CM ’12, the top ranked tennis player in the West region, took third place honors over fall break at the Division 3 Nationals in Mobile, Alabama.  Watch for the tear-jerking personal interview on the Forum soon.

On to the full report…

The Men’s Cross Country team sits as the favorites in SCIAC competition as they smoked the competition at Pomona two weeks ago in the SCIAC dual meet. Arguably the strongest team since 2002, when the Stags won their last league title (their 7th in a row), the Stags had four of the top five finishers in Kramer Straube HM ‘11, Georgi Dinolov HM ‘11, Kris Brown CM ‘11, and Matt Cummins HM ‘11. The team heads to Chino this weekend to take on their SCIAC rivals again, for a chance at the SCIAC title, which they narrowly missed last year.

The Women’s Cross country team finished second to Occidental by a single point at the SCIAC dual meet at Pomona a week ago. Jennifer Tave SC ‘12 crushed the second place Pomona runner by a 28 second margin, and Julia Rigby SC ‘12 finished third. The Athena harriers will have a shot at the SCIAC title this weekend as well in Chino as they try and get their revenge on the Tigers.

Landon Patoc returns an interception 40 yds for a touchdown in the Stags game against Redlands last Saturday Photo Credit: Gary Stephenson

After a 21-14 loss at Cal Lutheran and a home loss to Redlands 53-27, having opportunities to put the game away in both, the football team sits at 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in SCIAC play. QB Scott Yingling CM ‘11 has led the offense with a 106.31 efficiency rating on the season, passing to his favorite three targets in Nick Marineau CM ‘10, Mikey Hirokawa CM ‘10 and Jacob Tobis CM ‘10, as well as FB D.J. Lillard CM ‘10, who has averaged 100 all purpose yards a game. Dan Picciotto CM ‘10 has led the team with 46 tackles on defense, including 9.5 for a loss, while Brock Olson CM ‘10 has added 37 tackles of his own, and two interceptions. A big improvement from last season has been the kicking game, as K Chet Corcos HM ‘12 has been 13-14 on kicks on the season. The team will hit the road for back to back games, facing Chapman and then Whittier before coming home to face Pomona-Pitzer in the Peace Pipe game.

The Men’s Soccer team finds itself in a dead heat with Cal Lutheran for the coveted fourth and final spot into the SCIAC championships. Harrison Doyle CM ‘12 has led the team with 7 goals, and teammate Ian Anderson CM ‘10 leads the team with five assists. After three losses in a row, the men finish with two games at home vs. Occidental and Caltech, respectively. They have to hope for some help from Cal Lutheran’s opponents as the Kingsmen currently hold the tiebreaker. The Stags are 7-7-2 overall and tied in fourth at 6-5-1 in SCIAC play. The men will battle Occidental at 4:00pm on Wednesday.

The Women’s Soccer team is the most dominating Athena team at the moment, sitting at 10-2-2 with an 8-0-2 SCIAC record, 2 points ahead of conference rival Redlands. Laura Hagen CM ’11 leads the team with 7 goals and 5 assists, while Julia Nishioka CM ‘12, Rachel Bunting CM ‘12, and Brittany Pineros CM ‘11 have five goals a piece. Camila Friedman-Gerlicz CM ‘12 has been dominant in goal, allowing .88 a game. After two wins over Redlands, and two conference games remaining, the Athenas have put themselves in prime position to be the number one seed of the SCIAC tournament if they can beat manage a win or a tie vs. third place Occidental and then a win vs. La Verne. The women face UC Santa Cruz for their last regular season home game under the lights this Friday night.

The Volleyball team is 14-12 overall and tied for the fourth and final spot in the SCIAC championships with Pomona-Pitzer at 6-6 in league play. Allie Macy CM ‘11 and Emily Hudson CM ’12 have been dominant up front with 211 and 163 kills respectively while Taylor Jones CM ‘13 has averaged 9.68 assists per game. The story of their season so far has been that in five games matches the Athenas are 1-5. The team has two games remaining, Friday at home vs. La Verne, and then at Occidental next Tuesday for a shot at the SCIAC championship.

The Men’s Water Polo team, ranked fourth in Division 3, lost a hard fought match to Pomona-Pitzer, 9-5. They responded to beat Cal Tech at home, and they sit at 2-1 in SCIAC and 10-11 overall. The aquatic Stags will face off with four straight matches vs. conference rivals ending with No. 1 ranked Redlands. The men will return home to face Air Force at home next Monday November 8.