After a 5-0 victory to open the season at Lubbock Christian, Fort Lewis men’s soccer hasn’t ripped the back of the net as frequently. However, the Skyhawks have found ways to continue to win.
The Skyhawks hit the road and won at West Texas A&M 1-0 on Sunday. This comes after a 1-0 win at home against St. Mary’s on Sept. 11. FLC improved to 3-0-1 with the win while West Texas A&M fell to 1-2-1 overall with the loss.
FLC was rewarded for its win by being ranked ninth in Division II in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll.
“We felt really good about it,” FLC men’s soccer head coach David Oberholtzer said. “It was interesting because we had a number of things we had to overcome. It was extremely hot, uncomfortable and not a typical environment we're used to playing in. So that was an adjustment, for sure … So quite a few guys needed to step up and they did. It was really cool to see the group as a whole step up and still find a way to win and compete.”
Senior forward Tomas Duenes scored the winning goal in the 61st minute and was assisted by David Citron. Oberholtzer said the Skyhawks made some adjustments in the second half that helped FLC take control of the game in the second half.
Freshman midfielder Julián Rojas made a clever pass to Citron on the right side. Citron played a ball toward goal which was deflected back to him. Then Citron found Duenes who put it away for the goal.
Each team had 13 shots while FLC edged out West Texas A&M on shots on goal 6-5. FLC sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin had five saves.
The Skyhawks were down multiple players due to injury. Star sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarsson continued to deal with a foot issue and he missed the game. Senior defender Jakob Larson broke his nose in the beginning of the game and redshirt junior Quinn Bosanko has a fracture in the side of his foot.
Oberholtzer commended junior Cole Wood for stepping up and playing well with the Skyhawks’ injuries. Freshman forward Vincent Edgell, sophomore Tristen Banquil and junior midfielder David Citron all stepped up from an attacking standpoint.
“I knew we had some talented depth going into the season,” Oberholtzer said. “It's good for those guys to have an opportunity, to be tested a little bit and show that they're capable of doing a really good job.”
Oberholtzer expects Hjalmarsson to be back in the lineup for Thursday’s game against Simon Fraser. Bosanko could be out for a few weeks.
The Skyhawks will play Simon Fraser University from Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday at 7 p.m. FLC has played Simon Fraser the last two years and has lost 1-0 both years.
FLC women’s soccer scores two goals in final four minutes to stun UT Permian Basin
The Skyhawks women’s soccer team looked like it was heading for its second loss in three days down 1-0 with 10 minutes to go at UT Permian Basin on Saturday.
Then FLC started pressing and everything changed. Sophomore midfielder/forward Haley Stafford scored in the 86th minute and junior forward Anna Tucker scored in the 88th minute to steal the victory away from UT Permian Basin 2-1.
“That's the first time I think that we've had a comeback like that since I've been back here,” FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke said. “That also used to be our MO, we scored so many goals with those teams between 2010-2013. We had belief that if we had one more chance, we were going to score it. You need a game like that to keep a team willing to fight for 90 minutes. It’s pretty impactful to the program as a whole, to build that type of belief in what you're doing and that you can do hard things.”
FLC improved to 2-1-1 with the win while UT Permian Basin fell to 1-1-1 with the loss.
Despite being outshot 13-6, Clarke was happy with how FLC created chances, but UT Permian Basin did a good job of getting numbers in the box to block Skyhawks players’ shots.
UT Permian Basin put pressure on FLC with the Skyhawks having a slim possession advantage. The Falcons broke through in the 55th minute to take a 1-0 lead. With 10 minutes left, Clarke decided to take a defender out and play with three defenders in the back. This allowed the Skyhawks to have an extra player to press.
FLC played a quick throw to sophomore Ashlyn Salas who turned the corner on the end line and passed to Stafford who smashed it home from close range to tie the game. Shortly after, junior defender Rachel Peebles played a ball which eventually led to Tucker hitting a great shot with her right foot to win the game.
The Skyhawks are back in action on Sunday at West Texas A&M at noon. Clarke said the team is working on finding ways to play in and behind a press.
Volleyball finishes second tournament 1-3
The FLC volleyball squad has played some tough competition to prepare for Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. This has led to plenty of learning and losing. After going 1-3 in the Angelo State Tournament, FLC went 1-3 in the Western Colorado Tournament in Gunnison last weekend.
On Friday, FLC lost to Texas A&M University-Kingsville 3-0: 25-21, 25-14 and 26-24. The Skyhawks also lost 3-0 on Friday to Washburn 25-15, 25-17 and 25-15.
FLC got its only win of the tournament on Saturday against Academy of Art 3-0: 31-29, 25-11 and 27-25. Then FLC lost to Western New Mexico 3-1: 26-24, 24-26, 25-17 and 26-24.
The Skyhawks fell to 2-6 overall after the tournament.
“I expected us to do a little bit better,” FLC volleyball head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite said. “I expected to be 2-2. There were some teams we should have beaten in my opinion. We’re using preseason to identify the areas where we need improvement. That definitely helped us and we have been working on controlling the errors, the unforced errors that we had, which was something that we experienced the week before as well. We made some adjustments, for sure, but we're not where we need to be or should be yet. I made some changes in the training for this week, so hopefully that will help us out.”
Tarnuaskaite said the Western New Mexico match was the one that got away. However, the Skyhawks were missing some key players in junior middle blocker Ella Butler, sophomore outside hitter Jordan DeJesus and fifth-year right side Lauren Shea due to injury.
Sophomore outside hitter Alina Nunez stepped up in those players’ absence and showed great leadership, according to Tarnauskaite. Freshman defensive specialist Emery Pomroy showed some good ball control and helped the Skyhawks not struggle as much in serve-receive.
Tarnauskaite said DeJesus and Butler are already back and Shea is making her return.
Next up for FLC is its RMAC opener at Westminster on Friday at 6 p.m. Tarnauskaite thinks if the team can get better offensively, the Skyhawks will be fine. She said the team played in tough tournaments to get ready to compete at the top of the RMAC.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
