Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 19, Ohio Wesleyan 17

May 7, 2008

Senior attacker Polly Burke (Milton, Mass.) and junior attacker Hannah Mudge (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School) scored to break a 2-2 tie and give Ohio Wesleyan a 4-2 lead, but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps took the lead with a 3-0 run and held off an Ohio Wesleyan rally to defeat the Bishops in a first-round game of the NCAA Division III playoffs on Wednesday in Claremont, Calif.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps advances to the second round to face The College of New Jersey on Saturday in Trenton, N.J.
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With the score tied at 2-2, Burke intercepted an Athena clear attempt, drove to the goal and ripped a shot past CMS keeper Katya Stroll.

Ohio Wesleyan won the endusing draw and senior midfielder Kadi Kuhlenberg (Cincinnati/Anderson) fired a shot which Stroll saved, but Mudge picked up the loose ball and scored from short range to give the Bishops a 4-2 lead just over 5 minutes into the game.

Colbi Brauner answered with a score for the Athenas, and Olivia Rotondi and Annie Gaissler added scores that gave the hosts a 5-4 lead with 12:14 left. The teams then traded goals thrice, with senior attacker Julia Fouts (Cleveland Heights/Hathaway Brown) scoring the Bishops' next 3 goals, to bring Ohio Wesleyan within 8-7 with 4:37 left in the first half.

Gaissler then scored a pair of goals, first taking a feed from Brauner, then scoring from right in front off Lindsay Gaesser's pass from behind the cage, as the Athenas increased the lead to 10-7 at halftime.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scored the first 3 goals of the second half to stretch the lead to 13-7, but Ohio Wesleyan chipped away at the deficit, closing to within 14-10 on a pair of scores by senior midfielder Alexa Deaton (Eden, Md//Mercersburg Academy) and another by sophomore attacker Jessica Copeland (Ligonier, Pa./Foxcroft (Va.)).

The Bishops made it 15-13 on a pair of free-position goals by sophomore midfielder Haleigh Rohr (Nelson, N.H./Northfield Mt. Hermon (Mass.)) and a score by sophomore midfielder Abbey Miller (Wollwich, Maine/Morse).

Ohio Wesleyan had a chance to close to within 15-14, but Stroll, who had returned to the game when Rohr's second free-position goal made it 15-13, made a timely save of a free-position shot by sophomore attacker Elizabeth Lambert (Alexandria, Va.) with 10:44 left, and the Athenas took advantage of the momentum change when Brauner scored on a 2-on-2 break with 9:49 remaining.

Brauner and Gaissler added goals to give Claremont-Mudd-Scripps an 18-13 lead, but the Bishops fought back, getting scores from Fouts and Kuhlenberg to close within 18-15 with 4:46 to go, then adding scores by Kuhlenberg and Deaton to account for the 19-17 final.

Fouts led the Bishops with 5 goals and an assist, while Deaton finished with 3 goals and an assist and Kuhlenberg and Rohr added 2 goals apiece.

Senior Maggie Eichenlaub (Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper) matched her season best of 17 saves in the Ohio Wesleyan goal.

Brauner and Gaissler scored 5 goals apiece for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Stroll had 9 saves and Jessie Cathcart had 2 saves for the Athenas.

Box Score