If Friday’s women’s college soccer game between Fort Lewis College and New Mexico Highlands was a boxing match, the referees would’ve called the fight in the third or fourth round.
FLC dominated New Mexico Highlands for the entire 90 minutes as the Skyhawks cruised to a 9-0 victory. The Skyhawks’ nine goals were the most since 2008, tied for the third most in program history and tied for the third largest margin of victory, according to the FLC women’s soccer record book. It’s FLC’s first multigoal game since Sept. 13.
The Skyhawks controlled the game with their possession of the ball. Time after time, FLC found space in the middle of the field and then found space on the wings with through balls into open space. New Mexico Highlands didn’t have the speed or strength to put up any fight on offense or defense. The Cowgirls had a worse touch on the ball in the wet conditions than Durango did.
“We played well at times, obviously,” FLC head coach Damian Clarke said. “Scoring goals is always good for a team, for sure. Having the confidence in a certain sense that you gain from that is really what you take away from a game like this. Finally breaking the seal and being able to score some goals and feel good about it.”
FLC improved to 5-4-1 overall and 2-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while New Mexico Highlands dropped to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the RMAC.
Junior forward Jenna Salazar led the Skyhawks with three goals and senior forward Anna Tucker added two goals. Junior forward Abila Tapia finished with a goal and two assists and senior forward Abigail Nkrumah finished with two assists. Freshman goalkeeper Trinity Lujan finished with two saves for FLC.
A minute in, FLC took the lead. Nkrumah found Salazar for the finish and the 1-0 lead. The Skyhawks continued to put New Mexico Highlands under pressure with possession and by getting behind the Cowgirls’ back line. FLC was overzealous at times and had a few offsides calls.
Salazar found the back of the net again about 13 minutes later. The Skyhawks regained possession and Nkrumah had plenty of space from the middle of the field to play a through ball to Salazar on the right side. She had plenty of time to take a touch and finish beautifully into the lower left corner.
FLC continued its pressure and scored a minute later. Tucker received a pass at the top of the 18-yard box, hesitated, took a touch to her left and shot. Tucker’s shot was deflected and found the left side of the net for a 3-0 lead with 29 minutes left in the first half.
“Realistically, when you play an offsides line in a high line like that you kind of live and die by it,” Clarke said about the New Mexico Highlands defense. “When you break the seal that early, it's just tough, especially with the run of results they've had to go through. But at the same time, the other team didn't stop playing, which is respectable.”
New Mexico Highlands struggled to maintain possession in the first 25 minutes of the game. FLC’s pressure, combined with its strength and speed caused New Mexico Highlands to struggle to move the ball up the field and lose 50-50 balls.
FLC scored its fourth and fifth goals within two minutes of each other. The Skyhawks played a corner short to senior Rozlin Gomez. She then had space to play it across the 6-yard box to freshman midfielder Addyson Carpentier, who finished low with one touch. Two minutes later, an FLC service was mishit into the Cowgirls’ goal by their own player for a 5-0 FLC lead with 13 minutes left.
The Skyhawks outshot the Cowgirls 16-3 in the first half as FLC led 5-0 at the half.
In the second half, FLC continued to control the game with possession and pressure until its sixth goal. New Mexico Highlands had a poor clearance and Tapia intercepted it on the left side. She dribbled toward the middle and hit a fantastic strike from 20 yards out that ended up in the top right corner for a 6-0 lead with 30:28 left.
FLC continued to control the match. A clearance by FLC led to a Salazar breakaway and finish into the left side for a 7-0 lead with 12 minutes left. Tucker scored a few minutes later off a poor goal kick. Junior midfielder Ann Spence had the final goal with less than five minutes left.
Clarke starting getting his whole bench into the game late in the first half. He was happy to see freshman midfielder Lova Sjölund, redshirt freshman Mia Duncan and Carpentier play well off the bench.
FLC stays at home to play Adams State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“If we can score a goal, we're so good defensively that we're tough to beat,” Clarke said. “Go score first and let's see how good we can get.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
