July is the last month of 2026 without Fort Lewis College sports competitions, so it’s the perfect time to look back at the 2025-2026 school year and grade how the Skyhawks did.
There were plenty of highlights and low moments since the beginning of the school year in August. Whether it was game-winning goals, baskets and runs, dominant performances, heartbreaking defeats or blowout losses, Skyhawks experienced it all.
But the final scores and records of the seasons don’t always show the full stories. There are injuries, coaching changes and plenty of storylines that aren’t visible with just the final results.
So, let’s take a look back at each team and grade their seasons. Since FLC has so many teams, this article will be broken down into three parts for the three seasons. The spring season was covered in Part 1. The winter sports were covered in Part 2, so let’s turn our attention to the fall sports in Part 3. Fall sports competitions are a little over a month away, so this will be a good reminder of how teams did last season compared to the expectations for those squads.
Grades are subjective, and it’s really hard for me to give out anything above an A- unless a team wins some sort of championship. Teams will be listed from highest to lowest grades.
Grade: B+
There was a lot of uncertainty heading into the 2025 volleyball season, but by the end of the year, it was certain that the Skyhawks took a huge step forward.
FLC had a new head coach in Justin Wong, who had never coached at the Division II level or been a head coach at the collegiate level. The Skyhawks hadn’t had a winning record since 2010, nor made the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament since 2022. Ella Butler was the only Skyhawk on last year’s roster who played in the RMAC tournament in 2022.
Despite all those question marks, FLC started out strongly with a 7-1 record. The Skyhawks’ mix of returning players gelled very well, despite Wong not coaching or recruiting all but two of FLC’s players.
The Skyhawks finished 14-12 overall and 8-6 in the RMAC. They made the RMAC tournament, losing in the first round. Butler and freshman Alyx Daugherty made Second Team All-RMAC for FLC.
Volleyball deserves a B+ because Wong and the Skyhawks had the program’s best record in 15 years. That’s very difficult to do with a first-year coach and some freshmen in key roles. The only reason the grade isn’t higher is because the Skyhawks lost their last seven games of the season. They should’ve picked up another win or two in that stretch and improved their seeding in the conference tournament.
FLC volleyball is on the rise this fall with a strong nucleus returning, plus Wong’s first full recruiting class.
Grade: B+
The Skyhawks women’s soccer team has had stability over the last few years with head coach Damian Clarke leading the Skyhawks for the past eight years and 15 seasons over two stints. Recently, that stability with the coaching staff has paid off with steady improvement.
FLC made the last four RMAC tournaments under Clarke and had a winning record in the last three seasons. In 2025, the Skyhawks went 11-5-3 overall and 7-2-2 in the RMAC. It was the most overall and conference wins for the women’s soccer program since 2015. FLC won a conference tournament game before falling to Colorado Mesa in the RMAC semifinals.
A veteran and dominant defense propelled FLC to success. The Skyhawks were one of the best defensive teams in Division II, and they didn’t allow a goal at home, finishing with an 8-0-1 home record.
A B+ grade is appropriate because FLC had a great season and improved from the previous year. However, the Skyhawks didn’t improve enough to reach the NCAA Tournament or the RMAC championship, keeping their grade out of the A tier.
Another step up could be in the cards in 2026 with a strong recruiting class and returning group.
Grade: B+
The Skyhawks’ cross country program is full of young coaches, but that hasn’t stopped FLC from competing at the highest level.
FLC’s XC squad had a lot of success in the fall, especially on the women’s side. Led by associate head coach Gracen Key, the women qualified for the Division II national championship meet as a team for the third consecutive year. Star senior Hannah Hartwell finished fourth at the national championship meet, the highest finish in program history, and the FLC women finished 21st as a team at the national championships.
It’s impressive that Key, who graduated from college in 2021, has continued the success current athletic director and former cross country coach Shawn Jakubowski fostered before her. The men’s program had some bright moments last season under head coach Dalton Graham, but the men didn’t qualify for the national championship.
A B+ is fair for how well Hartwell performed and that the women qualified as a team. Now the men will have to step up with more experience and join them at the national championship.
Grade: B-
The men’s soccer team was the toughest to grade of the fall sports. On one hand, most teams that finish with a 65% winning percentage and a 6-1-1 home record would get a better grade than a B-. But the men’s soccer team has higher expectations than most Skyhawk programs.
Putting aside the program’s three national championships from 2005-2011, the Skyhawks have been performing at a high level recently. They won the RMAC regular season championship in 2023 and won at least one game in the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Tournaments.
So heading into the 2025 season, it was a reasonable expectation for the Skyhawks to return to the NCAA Tournament. They were picked second in the RMAC preseason poll and were undefeated through six games. Head coach David Oberholtzer thought the team could be even better than the season before.
The Skyhawks had a dynamic offense with superstar talents like Alessio Andreottola and Lorenz Guintini. However, their defense struggled, especially in blowout losses to Colorado Mesa and CSU Pueblo. FLC still managed to finish the season 9-4-4 overall and 5-3-2 in the RMAC, but in an ultra-competitive year in the conference, FLC missed the RMAC tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
FLC’s start to the season and the talent on offense should’ve been enough to win some games in the RMAC tournament and get into the NCAA Tournament. Andreottola was the conference’s player of the year and freshman of the year, and is a future pro. However, FLC just couldn’t get it done on the defensive side of the ball, leading to a disappointing end to the season.
Grade: C-
The Skyhawks football program is mostly known for all the losses they’ve taken over the past eight seasons, and last season wasn’t much different.
FLC’s 2024 campaign was a big step forward as the Skyhawks snapped their 40-game losing streak and finished with three wins. Despite returning the majority of that roster with the same head coach, the Skyhawks took a step back in 2025, finishing 2-9 overall and 1-8 in the RMAC.
The Skyhawks crushed two-win Arizona Christian University in the non-conference and then beat winless Adams State in the RMAC. There were close calls early in conference play, but there were still blowout losses to the top teams in the conference.
There were key injuries, like Week 1 starting quarterback Stone Walker missing most of the season with injuries, but it was still a poor season from FLC, as it couldn’t win any close games. Good programs overcome injuries to finish with more than two wins, and FLC isn’t a good program.
Two wins usually aren’t enough for a C-, but FLC football has been so bad that it’s better than a lot of the previous years. Head coach Johnny Cox has been proud of his program’s retention rate and internal growth, but it’s yet to show up on the scoreboard and it needs to in 2026 if Cox wants to stick around.