The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team stepped on the gas from the opening whistle Sunday afternoon against South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and never let up.
The Skyhawks (9-4-3, 7-4-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) poured in five goals, and went on to cruise past the Hardrockers 5-0.
In the 18th minute, Brantley Bice opened the scoring with an assist from Ruben Neubauer, as Bice’s shot sailed into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0. Ryan Lee got in on the scoring just five minutes later, as Bice had a shot that was denied, but Lee was there for a simple tap-in to make it 2-0. Just past the half hour mark, Alejandro Arribas slotted home a low cross into the bottom left corner. Denis Celik slotted in a ball, which Bice intentionally let go through his legs as a dummy pass, and Arribas was there to finish it off. It was 3-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Fort Lewis’ back line held firm, and allowed the offense to build from the back. In the 74th minute, Hakeem Rabiu slotted home a simple cross from Ty Lang to make it 4-0. Just three mintues later, Celik scored with a similar through ball into the box from Max Fuentes Carrera, and Celik placed it into the bottom left corner for the final goal of the game.
FLC head coach David Oberholtzer was pleased with his team’s clinical finishing.
“I was happy with the first half, but I still thought we had some Friday hangover a little bit,” Oberholtzer said. “Just a little slow and complacent in some moments. But I still thought it was a good performance from the guys. Some good goals were scored, got to spread the love in terms of the goal scorers, and we got everyone minutes today, which was great as well. Pretty happy from top to bottom.”
The Hardrockers (3-11-1, 2-9-1 RMAC) never got going on offense, and registered just eight shots on the afternoon.
Hardrockers head coach Ryan Thompson said small mistakes played a part in the loss.
“Coming up here, we knew it would be tough playing at altitude against a good team in Fort Lewis,” Thompson said. “Offensively, we wanted more. We created some chances early on, and on the stat sheet, we had more possession in the first half. Unfortunately, we made some small errors that led to goals for Fort Lewis. We couldn’t bounce back, and it was kind of all down hill. It was a tough one.”
With Fort Lewis’ win, the Skyhawks are now within a point of the top four in the RMAC table, as they sit in fifth-place at 22 points, one point behind Colorado Mesa. However, they are also just four points ahead of seventh-place Colorado State University-Pueblo – the Skyhawks’ final two opponents.
Fort Lewis will host the Mavericks (9-4-2, 7-3-2 RMAC) at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by the ThunderWolves (6-10, 6-6 RMAC) at noon on Sunday.
bploen@durangoherald.com
