The CMS women’s lacrosse team played a heart-stopping season opener on Feb. 21 against Bates College. The Athenas made a valiant effort in their first Division III game as a varsity team against the more experienced Bates College Bobcats from Maine, losing 10-9 after double overtime.

Women's lacrosse began as a club sport at CMS in the early 1980s under the direction of Dan Guthrie, professor of biology. An early West Coast team, they played successfully for years within the Western Women's Lacrosse League, a collection of about 30 college clubs in California and Arizona. Despite the lack of recruiting prior to gaining NCAA status, The Claremont Colleges still attracted strong players from the East Coast, and by the late 1990s, the skill level was high enough for The Colleges to support a varsity team. "We are drawing students from around the country with lacrosse in their backgrounds, and now we have a skilled group of women who want to play varsity lacrosse," said CMS Director of Athletics Mike Sutton.

“The team showed a lot of character and they played their hearts out,” coach Dana Latona said. Latona joined CMS this year as head coach of women’s lacrosse. She is a graduate of the College of New Jersey, and was voted U.S. Lacrosse Division III Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the 2000 NCAA All-Tournament Team.

The Athenas had a rough start in their first game, allowing Bates to score several unanswered goals in the first few minutes. Coach Latona called a timeout to give her team a pep talk. “I told them to get rid of their nerves, to get out and play,” she said. Apparently it worked, and the CMS women confidently took the field and quickly scored several goals to catch up with their opponents. At halftime, CMS was down 7-5.

It was an inspired second half as the Athenas scored two hard-fought goals and thwarted Bates from scoring again, to tie at 7-7. The large group of fans chanting, “C-M-S!" --- many of them unfamiliar with lacrosse strategy --- were given flyers detailing the rules of the game. However, the information didn’t include rules of overtime play, so Sutton announced to the anxious crowd that the teams would play two, three-minute periods.

At the end of the two overtime periods, the teams were again tied, 9-9. The match, which in regulation play is 60 minutes, had lasted two hours. It was nearly 6 p.m., and beginning to get dark. Referees announced that, due to visibility, this would be the last overtime, and that the game now stood at sudden-death, with the first team to score in the three-minute period winning the game would remain a tie. With fans on their feet, cheering, and struggling to watch the game as the sun set, Bates quickly scored to end the game at 10-9. The Athenas received a round of applause from fans as they left the field for their hard-fought effort.

“The girls were disappointed to lose, but they were proud of the way they played,” Latona said. “It gave them some confidence for the rest of the season.”

CMS lacrosse is the third Division III team in California, joining Whittier and Redlands, and the sixth team in the West. The team will play a Division III schedule against these teams and visiting teams from the East Coast.

“We hope we can be leaders in the western division for having a varsity women’s lacrosse team, as we aim to reach a quality of program where we are routinely invited to the NCAA Division III tournament,” Sutton says.

For more information on the team and its play schedule, visit http://www.cms.claremont.edu.

A brief lull gives Erin Scearcy '06 time to survey the field and adjust her mouth guard.

Kathryn Callahan '03 (No. 24) goes to the goal against Bates.

Lea Crusey '03.