It took more than regulation, but the Skyhawks kicked off the season on the right foot Friday.
The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team’s barrage of shots after halftime finally paid off in double overtime as Therese Romero found the net in the 102nd minute to give FLC a 1-0 win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday in Grand Junction.
“I think Commerce, to be honest with you, they’re a good team,” FLC head coach Damian Clarke said. “They’re very good at what they do, and it’s a lot different from what we do.”
FLC (1-0-0) and Texas A&M Commerce (0-1-0) played a statistically even first half, with the Lions holding a 5-4 edge in shots and 4-2 edge in shots on goal. From there, it was mostly Skyhawks as FLC held a shot advantage of 13-1 after halftime and a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal through the second half and the two overtimes.
“We played on their half for I think the last 60 minutes of the game,” Clarke said. “We like to think it was bound to happen, but it only happened once.”
Caitlyn Espinosa got the start in net for the Skyhawks and picked up her first clean sheet of the season, making four saves and getting help from what Clarke said was a strong defensive effort from the ’Hawks in front of her.
“The back four was tremendous (Friday),” he said. “In games like that, dealing with big athletes that just hit the ball long, it was similar to a lot of hard games we’re going to have to win.”
Sam Weiss and Nicole Schumacher had three shots on goal each for the Skyhawks.
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