Fort Lewis College redshirt freshman Malik Badawi found himself in the right place at the right time for a Skyhawks’ winner.
UC-Colorado Springs goalkeeper David Meyer saved the Skyhawks’ initial headed attempt off a corner in the 62nd minute, but Badawi slotted the rebound for his first career goal.
“We’ve been talking all week about getting the second ball after headers,” Badawi said. “I saw the ball going past me; I knew I wasn’t going to get it, so I just dropped in and waited for the second ball. Issac (Currie) got a deflection on it, (I) just ran in and put it into the goal.”
The goal held up in a 1-0 victory, the fourth in a row for FLC. It also was the Skyhawks’ second clean sheet of the season and second in the team’s last three games.
FLC junior goalkeeper Ryan Schaul made seven saves in the game, seeing consistent pressure from the Mountain Lions.
“Confidence is key, seeing the ball is key, so is communication,” Schaul said.
FLC was playing its first game at home since Sept. 7, a fact UCCS (2-4-1, 1-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) was well aware of.
“We knew that Fort Lewis had been on the road and that they were gonna raise the level right away,” UCCS head coach Johnnie Keen said. “We wanted to match that and not let down an early goal.”
UCCS held firm for more than an hour despite regular chances for FLC (5-2, 3-0 RMAC).
Meyer made six saves.
“He’s a good keeper,” Keen said of Meyer. “He’s upset and frustrated with himself about the one mistake he made.”
It seemed like just a matter of time before the Skyhawks scored, though.
FLC only has been shut out once this season and found the back of the net multiple times in four of seven games.
“I think we felt at halftime that if we kept doing what we were doing, eventually we would get something out of it,” FLC head coach Oige Kennedy said. “I thought we made some good chances in the first half and that we were playing OK, not as good as we can, but if we just kept at it we would get some more chances in the second half.”
The Skyhawks improved to 3-0 in the RMAC with the win, tying them with Metro State at the top of the table. They’ll have to take down two-time defending RMAC champion Regis to stay there.
The 14th-ranked Rangers will visit Dirks Field at 2:30 p.m. Sunday after a 3-0 win Friday at Adams State.
“We know that they’re a very good team offensively. Going forward they have Martin Maybin, who was a top goal scorer and offensive player in the RMAC last year,” Kennedy said of reigning RMAC Player of the Year. “(Regis head coach) Tony (McCall) does a great job organizing them. We’re going to have to defend well again, and we’re going to have to show them how we play Fort Lewis football – just get it forward and attack well and keep possession of the ball.
“If we do those things, we should be OK.”
kgrabowski@ durangoherald.com
