With two men’s soccer programs as evenly matched as Fort Lewis College and Colorado Mines, it isn’t surprising that 110 minutes didn’t decide a winner.
The Orediggers (7-4-3, 6-2-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) and the Skyhawks (7-6-1, 6-3-1 RMAC) played to a 2-2 draw Sunday in Golden. It is the third consecutive regular season match between the two powerhouses to end without a winner, as they played to 1-1 and 0-0 ties last season before the Orediggers beat FLC in the RMAC Tournament.
On Sunday, Robbie Young and Tamino Kroeger scored the goals and Skyhawks outplayed the home team on the stat sheet. FLC led the shots on goal count 10-4 and took five corners to Colorado Mines’ two.
The Orediggers took an early lead in the 11th minute after Jackson Shelledy’s shot deflected past Skyhawks goalkeeper Elliot Chadderton. Fort Lewis answered back in a hurry, as Young was led behind the defense by a Salifu Jatta pass and beat the keeper for his second goal of the season.
The match tightened up after the early goals, but Kroeger broke the ice in the 74th minute with a penalty kick goal that gave FLC a 2-2 lead.
As the story goes with these two teams, an equalizer was imminent, and Trevor Amann was the man to do it for Colorado Mines. His ninth goal of the season came in the 82nd minute and neither team could convert for the duration of regulation or the two 10-minute overtime periods.
Fort Lewis will host Colorado Christian at 3 p.m. Friday before another battle with Colorado Mines at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Dirks Field.
Women’s College Soccer
Women’s College Soccer The Fort Lewis women’s soccer team traveled to Salt Lake City Sunday to take on the RMAC’s surprising second-place team Westminster.
The Skyhawks started strong and carried a lead into halftime, but Westminster (8-2-3, 5-1-3 RMAC) chipped away and eventually won the match 2-1.
“We played a really good match and fought all the way to the end,” Fort Lewis head coach Jimmy Hall said. “We created chances and there were moments where it looked like we were going to even it back up, but couldn’t get it in.”
Alicia Sanchez gave Fort Lewis a 1-0 lead with a header goal that was assisted by Renee Terrell in the 29th minute. FLC carried the advantage for almost 40 minutes until the RMAC’s top goal scorer struck again. Westminster’s Madison Roemer popped a header off the crossbar and behind FLC goalkeeper Britt Blomso to even the match.
As if the deflection off the bar wasn’t unlucky enough, seven minutes later, Heidi Lorschider’s blast from 30 yards out nailed the post and went in to give the Griffins the lead.
“The go-ahead goal was a really good shot that hit the post and bounced around,” Hall said. “The ref on the line called it a goal and we didn’t let up after that. We were just a moment or two away from tying it.”
Blomso made eight saves in the loss. She saw 18 shots sail her way to just five attempted by FLC.
Fort Lewis (6-6-1, 5-4-0 RMAC) will try to bounce back at noon Sunday against Adams State.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
