Fort Lewis men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer has been around. He’s seen plenty of soccer as a player and as a coach. It’s his ninth season as FLC’s head coach.
Oberholtzer had never seen what happened Saturday night at Dirks Field at FLC.
After a two-hour delay due to lightning, FLC and Montana State University Billings kicked off at about 9:05 p.m. The Skyhawks looked out of sorts from the start. FLC was sloppy with its passing, shooting and defending.
MSUB took advantage and scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Down 2-0, FLC looked dead in the water as time ticked town.
That was until Skyhawks freshman Fabrizio Aguilera took over. FLC was down 2-0 with two minutes left. Aguilera found space that wasn’t there for the Skyhawks the first 88 minutes. Off a ball into the box, Aguilera scored his first goal into the top right corner with 90 seconds left.
Too little too late right? Wrong.
After MSUB kicked the ball out of bounds after the Skyhawk goal, FLC moved the ball through the midfield and found Aguilera at the top of the box. He found a sliver of space to his left, fired with his left foot and found the right side of the net with 26 seconds to go.
MSUB players were stunned and FLC did just enough in the final 26 seconds to hang on to an improbable tie.
“The guys worked super hard,” Oberholtzer said. “I'm proud of how hard they worked, they fought to the very end. They kept pushing. Fabrizio (Aguilera) really bailed us out. I'm not sure if we deserve to get that result but two big-time goals from him, and super excited for him. From a maturity standpoint, we could be better. We made some silly decisions, emotionally letting ourselves lose control a little bit. But also cutting corners on some of the little details that make us good.”
FLC moved to 3-0-3 overall with the tie. MSUB moved to 1-2-3 with the tie.
Arlo Follet and Bjarme Fedkenhauer scored the goals for the Yellow Jackets.
Skyhawks sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin assisted Aguilera’s first goal and junior Casey Stracher assisted the second one.
Martin finished with three saves. It’s the first game FLC has allowed more than one goal.
FLC looked a bit sloppy in the first 10 minutes in the wet conditions. Passes weren’t crisp, touches were too heavy and the Skyhawks had some sloppy turnovers in their own half. Luckily, MSUB couldn’t do anything with them.
“We were trying to win the game with every pass,” Oberholtzer said. “If we can get back to just doing the little things really well, that's what makes us a good group. We're overcomplicating the whole game and then missing out on some of those little details.”
The Skyhawks had their first chance 10 minutes in. A beautiful through ball across the field led to a shot by junior midfielder David Citron from close range. The MSUB keeper made the save.
The Yellow Jackets had their best chance of the first half with 15 minutes left on a counterattack. An MSUB striker had a great chance with a ball sitting inside the 18-yard box waiting for him. He crushed it over the crossbar.
FLC had some threatening chances but couldn’t get a quality shot on cage. The best chance came with seven minutes left. Citron chipped a ball over the Yellow Jackets’ defense for Stracher to run onto. He sped toward goal and fired a shot that hit the crossbar before he slid into the goal in disbelief.
MSUB took the lead off a free kick from about 50 yards out. Martin was shielded and the ball bounced into the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead four minutes into the second half.
FLC made a costly mistake. A Skyhawks defender passed a ball right into an MSUB striker’s feet. The Yellow Jacket took it and finished in the lower left corner for a 2-0 lead with 31 minutes left.
“Defensively, our back line, we weren't our sharpest tonight,” Oberholtzer said. “But I can't say those guys didn't work their tails off, because they definitely did. They gave everything … We just need to keep working to make better soccer decisions.”
The Skyhawks had multiple moments of attack but couldn’t find the right, touch, pass or shot in the attacking third.
Oberholtzer said MSUB did a good job getting numbers behind the ball and that made it really tight in the box.
FLC seemed to get away from possession play and resorted to long balls down 2-0 in the last 20 minutes. Until Aguilera found some magic late to push the Skyhawks to a tie.
“That's incredible the way the game finished,” Oberholtzer said. “So, a lot of heart, a lot of pride. Sometimes that pride and heart can kind of spill over in terms of emotional outbursts. But I can't say enough about how much they gave.”
The Skyhawks play CSU Pueblo on Thursday night at home at 6 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
