Fifth-year forward Gabriel Legendre has had a lot of personal accomplishments and a lot of team accomplishments in his four-plus years as a Skyhawk. Legendre did something for the first time in his college career on Friday against Westminster.
Legendre scored all three goals for the Skyhawks in a dominant 3-0 win over Westminster. It was his first hat trick of his career.
FLC improved to 9-2-5 overall and 5-2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Skyhawks clinched an RMAC tournament bid with the win. Westminster fell to 4-7-5 overall and 0-5-3 in RMAC play with the loss.
“None of us were super pleased with how we performed the weekend prior,” FLC men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer said. “There was a real effort to make sure that we rebounded well and not just won the game but performed well, which I thought the group really did. It was a really well-rounded performance. Obviously, the three goals from Gabe is a special night from him. But then keep the shut out as well, Lucas (Martin) was back in the net and did a really good job. So a 90-minute consistent team performance.”
Legendre put the Westminster goalkeeper under pressure and caused a turnover. He had an easy finish to put FLC up 1-0 in the 20th minute.
Senior forward Tomas Duenes had a corner later in the first half that Legendre finished for a 2-0 lead in the 33rd minute. Legendre’s final goal came off great combination play from the entire team. Senior Thomas Kirkham had the assist.
Sophomore Lucas Martin was back in the net for the Skyhawks after junior Aidan Hartman started a few games. Oberholtzer said the two continue to battle for playing time in practice and Martin had the upper hand for the spot this week. Martin had six saves against Westminster.
Oberholtzer doesn’t expect sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarsson to be ready until possibly the RMAC tournament as he continues to deal with a hamstring injury. Junior defender Kaden Schufft is closer to a return, according to Oberholtzer.
FLC plays at home against Colorado Mesa on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Skyhawks will be without Duenes, who picked up his fifth yellow card against Westminster. FLC beat Colorado Mesa 1-0 on the road on Sept. 29.
Men’s basketball drops opening game to Point Loma 80-69 in Florida
First-year Skyhawks head coach Jordan Mast knew his team would be in for a challenge at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Lakeland, Florida.
FLC battled hard against Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday afternoon but couldn’t find quality looks in the second half and lost 80-69.
“Being a new team, we started off not very well,” Mast said. “We turned the ball over, we got out of sorts, we got down early and then we were just fighting back the whole the whole game. When you do that against a really good team with a lot of experience it just makes things a lot more difficult.”
Point Loma improved to 1-0, while FLC fell to 0-1.
The Skyhawks shot 41% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 53% from the free-throw line. Point Loma shot 49% from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 71% from the free-throw line.
FLC was led by senior forward Chuol Deng, who finished with 18 points on 7-17 shooting from the field, 2-7 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Deng also had 11 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Junior guard Malachi Coleman had 11 points of the bench for the Skyhawks on 4-9 shooting from the field, 2-3 from downtown and 1-2 from the free-throw line. Junior forward Keither Florence had 11 points on 5-8 shooting from the field and 1-2 from 3-point range along with seven rebounds.
“We just got Keither back,” Mast said. “He was dealing with a family issue. It's good having him back. He just played so hard. If you do that in this program, you're going to play.”
Point Loma had five players in double figures. Zack Paulsen led the way with 13 points.
The Skyhawks got off to a terrible start in the first half and were down 15-2. FLC battled back to make it 27-26 with 7:15 left in the first half thanks to a 3-pointer by senior forward Tristan Moore.
Point Loma ended the half strong and was up 44-34 at halftime.
In the second half, FLC came out aggressive on both sides of the floor. A layup by senior guard Biko Johnson cut the Sea Lions’ lead to 47-46 with 15:59 to go.
Point Loma had a response each time the Skyhawks threatened in the second half. The Sea Lions went on a 10-0 run after Johnson’s layup.
The Skyhawks caused problems with their full-court press, which kept them in the game. Poor shot selection kept FLC from getting within five points of Point Loma in the last 10 minutes of the game.
“When we did battle back, instead of sticking with what we're doing with moving the ball and getting out in transition, we started going very individual,” Mast said. “That's the film we're going to show. When we play individually, we're not very good. When we move the ball, we share it, we play as a team, we're pretty dang good and we can compete with the best in the country.”
FLC plays Carson-Newman University tomorrow at 9 a.m. for the Skyhawks’ final game in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. Mast expects Carson-Newman to play a well-balanced style similar to Point Loma. He said Carson-Newman is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country.
Women’s soccer loses at Colorado Christian 2-0
FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke and his team had the goal of finishing in the top four of the RMAC. After losing to Colorado Christian 2-0 on Friday, that goal became less attainable.
The Skyhawks fell to 7-5-3 overall and 4-4-2 in the RMAC with the loss. Colorado Christian improved to 6-7-2 overall and 5-4-1 in the RMAC with the win.
“Sometimes a team imposes their game plan executes better than the other team,” Clarke said. “In this situation, that was a bit of that for sure … the game can be cruel and it was definitely a bit of that for us. They were super organized. They sat in a very organized mid-lock defensively and made it really difficult for us to break them down with our efforts to pass the ball. So that’s a competent Colorado Christian team that's much better than their record.”
The Cougars scored in the 23rd minute off a mistake in the midfield by FLC. Colorado Christian’s Capri Dewing scored after her shot went off the crossbar and off the back of FLC fifth-year goalkeeper Riley Bravin’s hand.
In the 38th minute, Ireland Jeffrey scored off a corner kick to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Clarke thought it was the first goal off a corner kick the Skyhawks have given up the entire year.
Colorado Christian’s mid-lock defensive system was a low-pressure system that allowed FLC to swing the ball from side to side. This led the Skyhawks to lose a lot of individual battles against the physical Cougars.
FLC had a few chances in the first half. In the second half, Colorado Christian sat on its lead by playing very conservatively offensively.
The Skyhawks play at MSU Denver on Sunday at noon.
Volleyball drops matches to Adams State, UCCS
The FLC volleyball team traveled up to Colorado Springs to participate in a power pod with Adams State and University Colorado Colorado Springs. FLC lost to Adams State 3-0 on Friday, 23-25, 19-25, 17-25 and to UCCS 3-1, 19-25, 30-28, 18-25 and 21-25 on Saturday.
These games don’t count toward the RMAC schedule so the Skyhawks stayed at 5-6 in conference play but dropped to 9-14 overall after the two losses.
“The biggest thing that I saw that was different in our other matches is that we lacked confidence and mental preparation for the match,” FLC volleyball head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite said about the Adams State match. “I've been talking to the team about firing up right away and being ready to go. We weren't quite ready, and then they took advantage of that. Playing a team three times has its own disadvantages. It's just tough in general. More than anything, we're physically ready and skills ready. We just needed to execute it mentally and be confident in our ability.”
Tarnauskaite was happier with the UCCS match. She said the Skyhawks came out swinging and blocked very well. FLC battled back in the second set to win which she found exciting.
Sophomore Alina Nunez and fifth-year Lauren Shea led FLC in both matches. Nunez had 13 kills against Adams State and 10 against UCCS. Shea had 12 kills against Adams State and against UCCS. Senior setter Natalia Lambos had 32 assists against Adams State and 36 assists against UCCS.
FLC plays at CSU Pueblo at 6 p.m. next Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
