CLAREMONT, Calif. – Caltech Men's Soccer faced SCIAC rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in a Saturday night matchup at Pritzlaff Field.
 
Senior goalkeeper Derek Ing got the start and held the Stags scoreless for the first half, stymieing their relentless offense with four saves while the Caltech back line blocked another shot and kept the hosts from putting their remaining five shots on goal before the break.
 
Sophomores Etienne Casanova and Ishaan Mantripragada threatened CMS with shots in the first half, Casanova being denied by the keeper and Mantripragada just missing wide right. Finally they broke through on a play that spanned nearly the entire field. The Beavers took a throw-in about five yards up from the corner on their own end, and after an opposing player had a hard first touch, Tanish Rao ran to it and immediately made a pass to Casanova, who played a long ball from Caltech's side of the center circle to Mantripragada, completely unmarked on the right wing. Sensing the threat, the CMS keeper ran all the way up to the corner of the 18-yard box in attempt to break up the play, but Mantripragada beat him to the ball, using just one touch to chip the ball into the area where it rolled across the goal line untouched. The goal was his sixth of the season, and it sent Caltech into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
 
First-year Ethan Hamel took over goalkeeping duties for the second half, and made a pair of saves just seconds apart as CMS bombarded the Caltech box with a flurry of shots. While off his mark, the Beavers retreated to the goal line as a last-ditch effort, and a hard shot caught first-year defender Riley Coover in the underarm inside the six-yard box as he jumped while spinning to his left in attempt to block the attempt with his back. The referee immediately signaled for a penalty kick, but only after a lengthy discussion in the corner with the assistant referee did he return to show a red card, likely due to the location of the unfortunate handball. CMS converted the ensuing penalty kick, and the Beavers were forced play the remainder of the match with ten men, but Hamel recorded one more save in the final minute.
 
The Beavers will have a few days to rest and get set for the first of two matches in eight days against Chapman University, who the Beavers tied 3-3 in their last meeting on Senior Day of the 2022 season. Find live stats and video at https://gocaltech.com/coverage.