The Fort Lewis men’s and women’s soccer teams started their seasons in the same place but had very different results. Both teams traveled to Lubbock, Texas, to face Lubbock Christian on Thursday.
It was a dominant showing for the men and they cruised to a 5-0 victory. The women had to come from behind for a 1-1 tie.
The Skyhawks men improved to 1-0 while Lubbock Christian fell to 0-1 with the loss.
“They played really well,” FLC men’s soccer head coach David Oberholtzer said. “They were fun to watch. They worked super hard and we scored some good goals. It was definitely a fun way to start the season.”
Junior midfielder David Citron led the Skyhawks with two goals and an assist. Sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin had two saves.
FLC opened the game with a goal from sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarrson in the 21st minute and senior forward Tomas Duenes quickly added another one to make it 2-0 in the 24th minute. The Skyhawks took that lead into halftime.
The Skyhawks continued to score in the second half with Citron scoring in the 63rd and 81st minute. Freshman forward Vincent Edgell scored his first goal as a Skyhawk in the 85th minute to make it 5-0.
“We just didn't give them any time to breathe,” Oberholtzer said. “We put them under pressure constantly throughout the game. We were able to pick the ball up in some really good areas and have them exposed. Our guys did a good job of just getting on the goal really quickly. Some good individual moments and some good team moments.”
Oberholtzer said the team didn’t give Lubbock Christian any options and the Skyhawks had good challenges defensively. Redshirt junior Quinn Bosanko had a few big blocks late and Jakob Larson also had a big block. Oberholtzer said the team was excited to get the shutout.
After the 1-1 draw in the women’s game, FLC and Lubbock Christian moved to 0-0-1.
“We felt like the girls showed a really good mentality,” FLC women’s soccer coach Damian Clarke said. “We definitely struggled with how direct Lubbock Christian was and they made it a very difficult game for us for sure. But it was great to tie the game at the end of it and keep trying to get better at the things that we want to make happen.”
Neither team could score in the first half. Clarke said there was a long stint in the first half where FLC was under a lot of pressure.
Lubbock Christian’s Ella Spiller scored in the 53rd minute to put the Chaps up 1-0. In the 84th minute, sophomore Ashlyn Salas found the back of the net for FLC off a free kick to tie the game.
“The last 30 minutes of the game I felt like we really had it under control,” Clarke said. “We were trading chance after chance. It was stuck in there, sitting in their half. That was a great kick. She (Salas) found the knockdown. Ashlyn’s really good at anticipating what's going to happen with where knockdowns will come down.”
FLC’s women’s soccer team is back in action on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Eastern New Mexico. The men play right after at 1:30 p.m. against Eastern New Mexico.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
