The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team wrapped up its opening weekend of RMAC action on Sunday, settling for a weekend split as Colorado School of Mines eked out a 1-0 victory at Dirks Field.
On Friday, the Skyhawks took down previously unbeaten Colorado Christian University 3-0.
Sunday’s loss came even though Fort Lewis (4-4-1 overall, 1-1-0 RMAC), led Mines in shots and shots on goal 10-7 and 4-2, respectively.
“I thought our guys played fantastic, and we were on our front foot from the first minute and controlled the game for the entirety of it,” said FLC coach David Oberholtzer. “I think we just needed a little bit of fortune to bounce our way, and sometimes that's just soccer. I couldn't be prouder of the guys and how they played (Sunday).”
The lone score for the game came in the 68th minute, when the Orediggers (7-3-0 overall, 2-0-0 RMAC) capitalized on a rare opportunity Sunday; a cross put into the box by Michael Sprauer and headed in by Gabe Rodriguez.
“Getting a goal in a game you know is going to be tight is obviously very important. We weren’t able to get that last little bit, and that was the only thing missing from our performance (Sunday),” Oberholtzer said. “Mines capitalized on the one good look they had all game.”
FLC freshmen Gabriel Legendre and Maximilian Meier each put one shot on goal apiece, as did senior forward Brantley Bice and sophomore midfielder Aymaro Vargas to help lead the Skyhawks attack.
On Friday, the FLC men steamrolled a previously undefeated Colorado Christian University squad 3-0.
After a quiet opening 20 minutes, the Skyhawks got on the scoreboard first when freshman Tomas Duenes was fouled in the CCU box, setting up a penalty kick opportunity for Legendre to net his first of two goals on the afternoon at the 23:45 mark.
The score from Legendre flipped the field in the Skyhawks’ favor as they finished with a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal in the first half and a 16-10 advantage for the game.
“The way CCU was playing, they make it difficult for you to score goals because they are so organized and they defend deep, so there's not a lot of room to get behind,” Oberholtzer said. “To be able to get that opening goal, forcing them to come out and expose themselves a little more, it was important and it led to more opportunities.”
Legendre cashed in his second goal at the 51:14 mark — his team-leading five goal of the 2021 campaign — with a beautiful strike from 20 yards out following a cross from senior Brantley Bice.
Fort Lewis tacked on another insurance goal just 10 minutes later in the 62nd minute when Bice tallied his second goal of the season off a feed from freshman Georgi Stoyanov.
In net, senior goalkeeper Peter Byrne made two stops to get a shutout and move into fourth all-time in program history with 268 saves; passing Tom Meintzer (1991-93).
The team now heads back on the road for matchups against Colorado Mesa (7 p.m. Friday) and Westminster College (2:30 p.m. Sunday).
