Last season, the Skyhawks women’s soccer team got off to a great start and were undefeated through 10 games. FLC couldn’t finish the season strong due to a lack of scoring and lost in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament
After scoring 1.32 goals per game last season, the Skyhawks are averaging 2.43 goals per game and are poised to make a deeper run in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
FLC continued its strong play with a 3-0 victory at New Mexico Highlands Friday afternoon.
The Skyhawks improved to 5-1-1 overall and 2-0 in RMAC play with the win. New Mexico Highlands fell to 2-6-1 overall and 0-3 in RMAC play after the loss.
“We were alright,” Skyhawks women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke said. “In the first half, we were good for 10 minutes then struggled for probably 30 minutes and were good for five at the end. I’m not very pleased with the first half. Second half, we found a bit of confidence again and started to take control the game. I’m a little bit frustrated, we gave a team that was tough a good chance of beating us today. We found a way to make the result look a lot different from how the game felt.”
The game was scoreless at halftime and both teams had five shots in the first half. Clarke said a lot of Skyhawks were nervous on the ball and nervous about making mistakes. It was a tough field to play on and it took a lot of concentration to play Clarke’s style of soccer.
After halftime, junior forward Abigail Nkrumah came off the bench to score in the 60th minute to put FLC up 1-0. Sophomore forward Abila Tapia followed in the 69th minute for a 2-0 lead and senior Anika Scherer scored her first goal of the season in the 76th minute to seal the victory for FLC.
“In the second half, Abby Nkrumah was just confident, got on the ball, allowed us to start moving the ball forward well and made some things obvious for us,” Clarke said. “So she did really well. Abby Nkrumah was probably the change that sparked the attacking flurry.”
Clarke said Nkrumah sees the game differently than other players on the team with her upbringing in Ghana. She can handle a tough environment differently than most players.
The Skyhawks have a quick turnaround to play at Adams State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Men’s soccer ties Colorado Christian 2-2 in RMAC opener
FLC’s men’s soccer team found its match in more than one way on Friday afternoon. The Skyhawks had tied four of its first eight games. Colorado Christian had tied five of its first eight games.
So, of course, the Skyhawks and Cougars tied 2-2 on Friday afternoon at Colorado Christian.
The Skyhawks moved to 4-0-5 overall and 0-0-1 in RMAC play and the Cougars moved to 2-1-6 overall and 0-0-1 in RMAC play after the tie.
“We were completely dominant for 95% of the game,” FLC men’s soccer head coach David Oberholtzer said. “We had the ball the majority of the time. We got out ahead early... scored in the second half to take the lead. We're super comfortable and there were a few moments... where we had a mental lapse and switched off for a moment and they were able to capitalize on it. There were very few times when we were threatened. Those times that they took advantage and they made us pay for it.”
Oberholtzer said Colorado Christian was a tough team to score against because the Cougars aren’t very interested in opening up and going forward. They want to make the game difficult by getting a lot of numbers behind the ball and being really deep in front of their goal.
The first chance of the game took place in the 19th minute when fifth-year forward Gabriel Legendre had a penalty kick which he missed. The teams went into halftime tied 0-0.
FLC scored less than a minute into the second half when Legendre chipped the ball over the Colorado Christian backline and found senior midfielder Thomas Kirkham who finished a header for the lead.
Colorado Christian quickly responded in the 49th minute off an FLC turnover to tie the game at 1-1.
In the 68th minute, junior midfielder David Citron hit the ball over the Cougars’ backline and freshman forward Theo Burgman smashed it home. Colorado Christian wasn’t done and scored on a set piece to tie the game at 2-2 in the 80th minute.
FLC plays on Friday at home against South Dakota Mines at 7 p.m. Oberholtzer hopes to have redshirt junior Quinn Bosanko and sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarsson back for that game in some capacity.
Volleyball rallies after poor first set to beat Adams State
FLC volleyball got crushed in the first set 25-13 and it looked like the Skyhawks were heading for their 10th loss of the season.
But FLC rallied to win the second set 25-22 and the third set 25-19. Adams State rallied to win the fourth set 25-20 and force a fifth set. FLC prevailed in that set to win 15-12 and take the match 3-2 on Friday night.
The Skyhawks improved to 4-9 overall and 2-3 in RMAC play. Adams State dropped to 4-11 overall and 2-4 in RMAC play.
“We're still building momentum and we're also riding the momentum of the success that we've been having,” FLC volleyball head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite said. “We're the type of team that’s going to keep striving to make progress even at the last practice of our season. That's our goal and that's what you're seeing right now. It's us putting things together and improving... What you cannot measure is our resilience, grit, work on the court and the confidence that showed up today.”
Fifth year right side Lauren Shea led the Skyhawks with 16 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Jordan DeJesus had 15 kills. Junior middle blocker Ella Butler and senior outside hitter Alexis Hobie each had 14 kills. Senior setter Natalia Lambos had 57 assists. Tarnauskaite complimented Lambos for how she spread the offense out.
The Skyhawks play at New Mexico Highlands on Saturday at 3 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
