THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The teams on the field tonight at Rolland Stadium were as similar as could be. The Cal Lutheran men's soccer team played Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to a 0-0 double overtime draw in their second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) game of the season.
The Kingsmen and Stags were evenly matched with each team controlling the momentum at different points of the 110 minute showdown. Overall CMS outshot CLU, 16-10, and earned more corner kicks 10-6. Both goalies played the entire game with CMS keeper Joseph Mondello and Jack Duncan recording four and three saves apiece, respectively, as the teams battled to put up a crooked number.
A more physical second half forced the teams to both dig down deep as a combined 36 fouls were called in the contest with 18 against each squad.
Duncan came up with some big stops tonight. The first came with 13:35 remaining in the first half when Mehron Abdi took a potentially game changing shot for CMS that the Kingsmen keeper made an amazing save on. Another was recorded late in the second half with under three minutes to play.
In a total team effort 20 different Kingsmen stepped on the field. Matt Scipione made his debut as a starter tonight and played the entire first half and much of the second. Gabriel Fernando, Jorge Galvan and Alex Wardle all logged a lot of minutes in the backfield for CLU in the game.
Offensively, Ivan Sanchez took two shots, both on goal. With just over eight minutes to play in regulation, he launched a beautiful bicycle kick on target off a free kick from Salvador Orozco. Kyle Fleming also had two chances tonight with one on goal.
In the first overtime CLU almost ended the game on a goal by Cameron Rude off a corner kick taken by Orozco, but after the bench cleared, the goal was waived off on an off-sides call against CLU.
During the final OT period CMS fired off two shots, one blocked and one hitting the crossbar. CLU had no offensive chances in the final 10 minutes and the final buzzer sounded with no one having scored.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2-2-1, 1-0-1 SCIAC) was led by Abdi and Elijah Lichtenberg with a collective three shots on goal while Ryan Karle took a game-high five.
Cal Lutheran (3-1-1, 1-0-1 SCIAC) will be on the road Monday, Sept. 16 for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff against Occidental.
Box Score: CLU 0, CMS 0 - 2OT
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