Fort Lewis College appeared to be every bit the equal of the seventh-ranked team in the country for the better part of 60 minutes.
The FLC men’s soccer team opened the 2016 regular season with a home match Friday against the No. 7 Midwestern State Mustangs in NCAA Division II action. Tied at 1-all after the first half, the Skyhawks struck quickly in the second half with a goal from freshman Thomas de Faria to claim a 2-1 lead. But that’s when the Mustangs from Wichita Falls, Texas, took over the match on a pristine pitch at Dirks Field.
Flavio Guzman blasted a shot that deflected off an FLC defender past Skyhawks goalkeeper Elliot Chadderton to tie the game 2-2. The Mustangs (1-0) controlled possession and eventually earned a free kick from roughly 20 yards out with only 4 minutes, 40 seconds to play.
Gabriel Cavalcante stepped up and took a crack at goal, clearing the defensive wall and placing a shot inside the right post past Chadderton to give Midwestern State a 3-2 victory.
“I told my teammates ‘I feel it, let me take it,’” Cavalcante said of the free kick. “We have good free kick takers on our team, but I could see it and wanted it. It was great, because the fans were kind of talking, so when you score the winning goal in a game like this, it’s a great feeling.”
Fort Lewis appeared dangerous on offense early in the match, and the Mustangs didn’t get many good looks in front of goal. But a corner kick opportunity set up the game’s opening goal, as Jorge DeLeon of Midwestern State got his head on a corner kick by Guzman and directed it past Chadderton for a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.
FLC immediately responded when freshman Churchill Onumonu found the ball on his foot in front of goal and tapped it in for the early equalizer.
The goal from de Faria came only 1:15 into the second half, and it appeared the hosts had found some momentum in the upset bid. But, right out of kickoff, the Mustangs found a sense of determination.
“We struggled to keep the ball and ended up chasing a lot and looked fatigued quite a lot the second half,” first-year FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said. “When you let somebody pass the ball around on you, it tires you out. They kept possession, and that’s an area we need to clean up on and be cleaner connecting passes.”
Ten minutes after FLC took the 2-1 lead, it was Guzman’s goal that solidified the attacking team’s momentum.
“The longer it takes to come back from 2-1 the harder it is,” Midwestern State coach Doug Elder said. “We showed fight and started going at them.”
Elder said it was only the second time in his 17 years coaching the Mustangs that his side has beat FLC on Dirks Field.
“It’s a tough place to play, so we love it when we can come here and get one with all of our little buddies over there behind our bench talking to us,” he said.
Oberholtzer said his team will move on and look at the positives in scoring two goals against a quality opponent. After allowing three goals on a deflection and two set pieces, he knows his team has plenty of upside going forward.
The team’s next game is at noon Saturday in Grand Junction against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Colorado Mesa. The Mavericks have won four consecutive games against the Skyhawks.
“We will start to click more, and we do have a number of weapons going forward,” Oberholtzer said. “We will take the positives, learn from the negatives and prep for the next one. Sunday’s game is all that should be on our minds now.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
