Out of sync. Too many touches. A touch away from a great pass. Miscommunication. A step away from a tackle. Feet away from a goal.
All of these things were happening with the Fort Lewis men’s soccer team Wednesday night in its home opener at Dirks Field against St. Mary’s University. The Skyhawks couldn’t get on the same page on offense. Passes were played too far or not in the right spot. FLC struggled to get good looks.
Then with 10 minutes to go, fifth-year forward Gabriel Legendre put a shot in the lower right corner to give the Skyhawks a 1-0 lead. FLC held on for a hard-fought win.
FLC improved to 2-0-1 with the win while St. Mary’s fell to 1-1-1 with the loss.
“We started really slow,” Skyhawks men’s soccer head coach David Oberholtzer said. “They started pretty sharp and put us under a lot of pressure. They were a good team and they did a good job tonight. We've talked as a group that it's not always going to be our best night. In those moments, we've still got to find a way to win games, no matter how it looks. The heart and the resilience from the group to one get the goal, but then to hold on and to defend really tough, I'm super proud of the guys.”
Legendre scored his first goal of the season for the Skyhawks, the 15th-ranked team in Division II. He was assisted by senior forward Tomas Duenes.
Sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin had five saves for the Skyhawks. St. Mary’s goalkeeper Johnny Thurbin had four saves.
Oberholtzer complimented Martin, senior defender Jakob Larson and junior defender Kaden Schufft for their play on defense. The Skyhawks have only allowed one goal in three games.
St. Mary’s outshot FLC 16-8 but each team had five shots on goal.
Sophomore star forward Anton Hjalmarsson returned after missing a game with a foot injury. He played 90 minutes against St. Mary’s.
St. Mary’s had the first big chance of the game 2:30 minutes in. Rattlers midfielder Adam Aboohamidi was played a ball with some space on the left side of the 18-yard box. He took a touch and had a clear shot but put it about a foot over the crossbar.
The Rattlers continued to have chances early in the first half. The Skyhawks had their first great chance nine minutes in. Tomas Duenes had a great tackle in St. Mary’s half and this led to him and Hjalmarsson having a 2v1. They moved the ball beautifully between each other as they approached the 18-yard box. Hjalmarsson missed the 1v1 opportunity.
FLC had more possession and good combination play but failed to get the shots and corners St. Mary’s got in the first 15 minutes. The Skyhawks had some great long balls but couldn’t possess the ball in the final third of the field.
“We kept playing passes into where they wanted us to play,” Oberholtzer said. “We just struggled to solve those things. In the second half we did a little better solving some of those problems. From an altitude standpoint, they started to fatigue which opened the game up a little bit.”
The first half buzzer sounded with the teams tied 0-0. St. Mary’s outshout FLC 10-3 in the first half.
“Our mentality wasn't where it needed to be from the start,” Oberholtzer said. “We knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy and we didn't match that. That put us on our back foot for quite a while.”
The Skyhawks continued to be indecisive in the attacking third and didn’t pressure Thurbin too much early in the second half.
Chances continued to be hard to come by. The Skyhawks had two free kicks from less than 25 yards out but both were driven low and blocked.
Finally, off a phenomenal ball from Duenes to switch the field, Legendre got the ball on the left side with space, dribbled toward the goal with his right foot and slotted one in on the lower right corner with 10 minutes left.
As FLC had another attacking opportunity down the right side, a Skyhawks player was fouled and showing ensued with about six minutes left.
This is when the game got very chaotic and the referee lost control of the game. After that, fouls were committed left and right which stopped the game numerous times in the final six minutes. The St. Mary’s players were frustrated and the coaches were too, coming out onto the field during stoppages.
In the last 6:03 of the game, seven yellow cards and four red cards were given out. All four of the red cards were given to St. Mary’s and three of those red cards were given out with 10 seconds left.
“Even when it kicked off a little bit, it was due to them coming in late,” Oberholtzer said. “There's a fine line. You want to make sure that you're disciplined and smart, but it's also good to see teammates supporting each other. So I'm happy with the guys.”
FLC travels to play at West Texas A&M on Sunday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
