True freshman Jeremiah Davis scored the first goal of his collegiate career on Friday and was one of five Skyhawks to score as the Fort Lewis College men's soccer team put on an offensive master class to down Adams State University 5-1 in a nonconference match at home.
The Skyhawks improved to 3-2-1 overall with the win while dropping Adams State to 0-5-0.
“We got off to a good start with an early goal, but then we got complacent in the first half,” said FLC head coach David Oberholtzer. “I thought our second-half performance was much sharper. We were able to create a lot of good chances, get a number of guys some goals, and put together a dominant performance in the end. I'm really happy for the guys but we'll have to rest up quickly and prepare for MSU Denver on Sunday.”
The Skyhawks’ relentless pursuit on goal produced 30 shots, the most by a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference school this season, while holding the Grizzlies to just four.
Loic Jean-Baptiste got the scoring going just 42 seconds into the match. Jean-Baptiste cut to the left post after Tomas Duenes provided a give-and-go through three defenders in the box and utilized a high chip with his right foot to beat the keeper for his second goal of the season.
Adams State held off the Skyhawks for the remainder of the first half, thwarting Fort Lewis' attack despite allowing 11 shots and five corner kicks.
In the 59th minute, however, Duenes caught the Grizzlies off-guard. Duenes intercepted an errant pass from the back line at the top of the box, cut left to avoid an oncoming defender and utilized his left foot to find the right post and score his first goal of the season.
Duenes intercepted another errant pass in the 65th minute and found Gabriel Legendre wide-open in the box for an easy score in the back left corner, putting FLC up 3-0.
The Grizzlies scored a goal from nearly 30 yards out on a free kick, but there was no slowing down the Skyhawks. Less than two minutes later, Aymaro Vargas drew a pair of defenders outside the box to clear the way for Jakob Maurek. Maurek eluded the final Grizzly in his path and chipped past the keeper to extend the lead.
Fort Lewis wasn't done. Vargas pushed the pace to counter an Adams State corner kick, and Davis outpaced his defender for a shot from just inside the left corner of the box. ASU goalie Charles Manthe got a hand to the ball, but Davis put enough behind it to carry it to the right post for his first collegiate goal.
FLC will next square off with Metro State at 1 p.m. Sunday in Denver.
