Editor’s note: After all of Friday night’s Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women’s soccer games, the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks solidified the No. 5 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. FLC will go on the road to play No. 5 New Mexico Highlands at 5 p.m. Wednesday in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team allowed a late first-half goal to the previously winless Colorado Mesa Mavericks, and the goal stood up for a 1-0 win Friday at Dirks Field to give the Skyhawks a hard loss to stomach.
“Really tough position. We gotta get a win on Sunday,” FLC head coach Jimmy Hall said Friday afternoon before all the night games had concluded. “We put ourselves under the hammer. We have to go to work on Sunday.”
A pair of wins Friday and Sunday, and the Skyhawks (6-6-5, 5-4-4 RMAC) would’ve earned a home game in the RMAC Tournament.
CSU-Pueblo lost 2-1 to Regis late Friday, clinching a spot in the tournament for FLC.
FLC mustered several scoring chances early in the game Friday, the home finale at Dirks Field. A Brooke Milliet shot went wide right, Courtney Riley hit a shot right at Colorado Mesa goalkeeper Sarah Schnetzler in a one-on-one situation, and Courtney Baltizar had a tap-in opportunity hit high off her shin and carry over the crossbar.
The Mavericks (1-12-4, 1-9-3 RMAC) made the Skyhawks pay for the missed opportunities when a Mavericks’ player launched a shot that was saved by FLC goalkeeper Caitlyn Espinosa. But Espinosa was a second too late to collect her own rebound, as Christine Silverstone ran in to tap the ball to goal just before Espinosa could crawl over and get her mitts on it.
“Being a former defender, I think it is one of those responsibilities that when your goalies make first saves, you have to be there backing ’em up,” Hall said. “I definitely feel for Caitlyn and wish we had more support for her on that one.”
Colorado Mesa did its best to stall the entire second half. Schnetzler was issued a yellow card for stalling during goal kicks, and the Mavericks repetitively cleared the ball out of bounds. There were seemingly as many throw-ins as connected passes in the final 45 minutes.
“Nothing I can do about it, so I try not to focus on it too much,” Hall said of the Mavericks’ tactics. “I asked the referees to keep it moving, but I gotta focus on the girls and keep pushing them to get the ball forward and go to goal.”
FLC was credited with four shots on goal to eight for the Mavericks, and Espinosa made seven saves.
It was a big win for the Mavericks, who opened the season with a 2-2 draw against Midwestern State University at Dirks Field during the Skyhawks’ opening-weekend tournament.
“We’ve worked tremendously hard all year, and it’s been a rough year for whatever reason,” Colorado Mesa head coach Jason Clares said. “This is where it all began, and it is fitting we had a great game. We started the year great against Midwestern and came in here (Friday) against a good Fort Lewis team that is trying to secure a playoff spot in the RMAC. Again, they are a great team. We got a good goal, and I think we were deserving of the win.”
Hall wasn’t surprised by the Mavericks’ tough play, even though Colorado Mesa had nothing to play for.
“Not in college. There are no teams that are going to roll over and die,” he said. “Everyone wants to win, and it doesn’t matter what time of year it is.”
The Skyhawks will travel to Golden to play the No. 15 Orediggers at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“Definitely more energy in the midfield and then relaxing and keeping the ball,” Hall said of what it will take to get a point against Colorado Mines.
jlivingston@ durangoherald.com
