After a few shaky performances at home, the Fort Lewis men’s soccer team has a step up in competition on Thursday night at FLC against the No. 9 team in Division II in CSU Pueblo.
The Skyhawks are coming off a 1-1 tie against Simon Fraser University last Thursday and a miraculous 2-2 tie against Montana State University Billings on Saturday.
FLC is 3-0-3 overall and dropped to 18th in Division II after being ranked ninth the week before due to the two ties.
CSU Pueblo is 5-1 overall and had no common opponents with the Skyhawks.
Although both of these teams are in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the game is not technically a conference game, but the game counts as a regional matchup for RPI purposes once NCAA tournament selection time comes.
“It would be great to get some results this weekend for regional ranking purposes,” FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said. “I don't think these games are going to hurt anybody … more than anything, we can continue to gain some confidence from our performances this weekend. It'd be great to go into the conference with some with some confidence and some momentum behind us.”
Oberholtzer and the Skyhawks haven’t forgotten about losing to CSU Pueblo 2-1 at home in the RMAC Conference Tournament championship game last season.
The ThunderWolves are dangerous again, averaging two goals per game so far, which is third in the RMAC. FLC is right behind in fourth with 1.833 goals per game.
Oberholtzer said CSU Pueblo is extremely dangerous on set pieces and matches up with FLC well with the ThunderWolves’ offensive versatility.
On set pieces, CSU Pueblo defender Shjon Andrews is super dangerous in the air. Wearing number five, Andrews has three goals this year which is tied for second-best in the conference. He’s a two-time All-American.
Other than Andrews, midfielder Caio Oliveira is dangerous, with three goals so far this year wearing number 10 on the pitch. Oberholtzer said Oliveria is great on the ball and super creative.
The Skyhawks will be without two of their top players, sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarsson and redshirt junior Quinn Bosanko. Hjalmarsson has battled injuries for most of this year and is out 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury. Bosanko has a fracture in his foot and Oberholtzer doesn’t expect him back earlier than in 1-2 weeks.
After scoring five goals in its opening win against Lubbock Christian, FLC scored one goal in four-straight games before its 2-2 tie against Montana State University Billings, with both of those goals coming in the final 90 seconds.
Oberholtzer said part of the struggles come from not having Hjalmarsson out there.
“A lot of it is gaining some familiarity for some of the new guys stepping in and other guys filling different roles in different positions,” Oberholtzer said. “So it's just a time thing, continuing to build relationships, getting comfortable, going back to just building some confidence, gaining some momentum and just pushing us in the right direction. Thursday is a great opportunity for that.”
The game kicks off at home on Dirks Field at 6 p.m. The game is a white out for fans.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
