After an opening draw against Lubbock Christian, the Fort Lewis women’s soccer team got its first win of the season on Saturday with a 3-0 victory at Eastern New Mexico.
FLC improved to 10-1 with the win while Eastern New Mexico fell to 0-1-1 with the loss.
“It was good to see us improve from the first game,” FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke. “We dealt with what I sort of was stressed about the last game, how direct the other team was with longer balls looking for the space behind us and us not necessarily heading the ball as well as we needed to defend that. We did quite well to clean that up and it allowed us to really hold the position in the middle of the field or higher.”
Senior midfielder Gabi Meraz-Fishbein opened up the scoring for the Skyhawks in the ninth minute. Senior Danielle Gonzales scored a free kick in the 30th minute to put FLC up 2-0. Sophomore forward Abila Tapia scored in the second half in the 69th minute to put the Skyhawks up 3-0 and secure the win.
Clarke said Eastern New Mexico pressed more than Lubbock Christian did. This allowed FLC some opportunities since the Skyhawks are hard to press. When Eastern New Mexico’s press did break down, there was plenty of space behind to attack.
Next up for the Skyhawks women’s soccer team is a road game against Midwestern State on Thursday. Clarke said it will be an emotional game for himself and his staff. Clarke coached at Midwestern State between his two stints at FLC. It will be the first time he’s returned to coach there during his second stint at FLC.
It was a challenging game for FLC’s men’s soccer team against Eastern New Mexico. The Skyhawks went down 1-0 in the 14th minute. But FLC came back with a goal by junior defender Casey Stracher in the 73rd minute to tie the game 1-1.
FLC and Eastern New Mexico each moved to 1-0-1 after the tie.
“The only thing that wasn't in our favor was the score,” Skyhawks men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer said. “We had 18 shots and we had eight corners. We were still dominant and dominant in terms of time of possession and controlling the game.”
Oberholtzer said he wasn’t happy with how his team was sluggish in the first half. In the second half with FLC down 1-0, Oberholtzer said Eastern New Mexico packed its whole team behind the ball defending.
It was a disappointing result for Oberholtzer who thought FLC should’ve won. He wants FLC to be switched on for 90 minutes not just 45 minutes.
The men’s team has its home opener against St. Mary’s University on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Dirks Field.
Volleyball starts season 1-3 in Angelo State Tournament
The FLC volleyball team has goals of making the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament this year. FLC didn’t get off to the best start in the Angelo State Tournament, going 1-3 last weekend in Texas.
FLC started the tournament off well by beating Texas Permian Basin 3-2 on Friday. The Skyhawks won the first set 29-27, lost the second set 25-19, won the third set 25-19, lost the fourth set 25-23 and won the fifth set 18-16.
Emmanuel University then beat the Skyhawks 3-0 on Friday 26-24, 26-24, 25-21.
On Saturday, FLC lost to Angelo State 3-1. Angelo State won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-18. The Skyhawks won the third set 28-26 and lost the fourth set 25-17. After that, FLC lost to #23 University of Central Oklahoma 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 for a 3-0 defeat.
“I knew the tournament would be tough,” FLC volleyball head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite said. “That's what I schedule for pre-season. I know some coaches schedule a warm-up, a confident booster game. I wanted to schedule something that will challenge us, because we won’t have any easy games in the conference. So we, of course, could have done better. The late game that we had the second day is something that definitely slipped away from our hands. We had a lead, then there were some mistakes here or there. Then next thing you know, the game is over. It gave us a good perspective of what we need to work on.”
Tarnauskaite said the one glaring issue over the Angelo State Tournament for the Skyhawks was unforced errors. She said it’s something that can be fixed and could’ve swung some of the matches.
Two players that stuck out to Tarnauskaite were junior middle blocker Ella Butler and fifth-year right side Lauren Shea.
“Ella Butler was absolutely phenomenal,” Tarnauskaite said. “She is the only player that made it to the all-tournament team from our team. The all-tournament teams were selected by opponent’s coaches, so I cannot vote for my own players. So see that kind of recognition, she had an amazing performance for a middle and she tends to do that.”
Next up for FLC volleyball is the Western Colorado Tournament in Gunnison on Friday and Saturday.
FLC cross country opens season at Joe I. Vigil Invitational
The Skyhawks men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their seasons at the Joe I. Vigil Invitational Invitational on Saturday. Both teams finished third out of three teams.
FLC junior Elijah Smith was the fastest Skyhawk in the men’s 8-kilometer race, finishing fourth in 24 minutes and 35.74 seconds. Senior Caden Resendez finished 14th in 25:09.9 and freshman Cesar Diaz finished 20th in 25:28.8.
On the women’s side, sophomore Linda Weigang was fourth in the women’s 5K race in 17:34.9. Junior Althea Griffith finished 15th in 18:53 and junior Marisol Castilleja finished 20th in 19:17.
The Skyhawks cross country teams next compete at the Roadrunners Invitational on Sept. 21 in Denver.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
