Athenas Win SCIAC Tournament, Qualify For NCAA Playoffs

The women's soccer team won the SCIAC Tournament on Saturday evening 1-0 over University of Redlands. With the victory, the Athenas automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships.  CMS, the tournament's third seed, improved to 11-8-1 with the win while Redlands, the top seed, dropped to 14-5-1.

CMS was outshot in the first half 10-3, but half of the Redlands shots were forced wide or high by the defense and the other half were saved by keeper Camila Friedman-Gerlicz (JR, Santa Fe, NM [pictured]).  The teams entered halftime tied at 0-0.

Ten minutes into the second half, Laura Hagen (SO, Bellevue, WA), CMS' leading scorer this season, lofted in a shot from outside the box that went over the keeper's head and into the back of the net.  The CMS defense forced seven more Bulldog shots to be off target and Friedman-Gerlicz saved the other four to earn her sixth shutout (second of the tournament) of the season.

This was the second time in the three year history of the tournament that CMS has won the title.  Both times they were seeded third and won at the top seed Redlands.  Both years the team also advanced to the final via a penalty kick shootout.

CMS will play Hardin-Simmons University in the first round of the NCAA Championships.  The teams will play at Redlands on Saturday evening at 5:00.  The winner will play the winner of the UC Santa Cruz-Redlands game on Sunday at 6:00.