The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team dropped a tight match to nationally ranked No. 5 Colorado School of Mines Sunday afternoon in Golden, 3-1 and are now in serious jeopardy of missing the conference tournament for the first time in program history.
The Skyhawks (7-6-2, 5-6-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) gave up two goals in the opening six minutes of the match and dug themselves an early 2-0 deficit.
In the second minute of the match, Orediggers senior forward John Haist tallied his 13th goal of the season when he split a pair of Skyhawk defenders and beat junior goalkeeper Victor Salcido at the far left post to make it 1-0. The Orediggers would add a second goal just four minutes later in the sixth minute, off of a throw-in from Mines’ redshirt freshman defensive midfielder Lucas King, the ball hit a head of a Skyhawk defender and Salcido was not able to save the deflection and the ball went in, to make it 2-0.
Despite being down 2-0 just 10 minutes into the match, Fort Lewis continued to create chances as they forced five first-half corner kicks and had seven shots.
Fort Lewis head coach David Oberholtzer said that the slow start was tough for his team to overcome and proved to be the difference.
“Conceding the way we did, it made it difficult for us to get anything going and we were down before the match really started,” Oberholtzer said. “We gained a little bit of composure later in the half and even the second (half), but never did enough to truly threaten on the day.”
In the second half, the Skyhawks answered with a goal from Coleman Kane in the 74th minute after he was able to get around the keeper and score to make it 2-1. However, FLC could not keep possession for long and the Orediggers answered in the 77th minute from senior forward Matthew Summerfield, as he hit a shot from 20 yards out that went in.
With the loss, Fort Lewis will be fighting to get in to the postseason tournament. The Skyhawks sit in seventh place and are one place and five points off of the final spot, which is currently occupied by Metropolitan State University-Denver, which has 21 points while the Skyhawks have 16.
Oberholtzer said he will treat the week as any other week, despite knowing what the table looks like.
“I don’t think it’s different than any other week, other than a Thursday-Saturday match instead of Friday-Sunday,” Oberholtzer said. “It just shortens the week for us, but we’ve got to rebound and fight for our survival, but we also need some other results to go our way. The only thing we can control is our performance at this point, but we will still need help and need some other games to go our way.”
Fort Lewis has made the RMAC Tournament every season since the Skyhawks joined the conference in 1996. The Skyhawks will square off against conference rival Colorado Mesa at 7 p.m. Thursday in Grand Junction.
The Fort Lewis College women’s team earned a crucial point in the context of its season after tying Colorado Mesa 1-1 after extra time Sunday afternoon in Grand Junction.
The Mavericks (6-5-4, 4-4-3) edged Fort Lewis 8-3 on shots in the first half but never truly threatened to open the scoring.
In the second half, however, the pace picked up in earnest as both sides were looking to get a win. In the 62nd minute, Mavericks freshman midfielder Lexi Newton finally broke the deadlock after her teammate and fellow midfielder Ryanne Parker fed a through ball past the Skyhawks back line, Newton dribbled around Fort Lewis junior goalkeeper Britt Blomso and slotted it into the open goal, to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.
The Skyhawks (5-8-2, 4-6-1 RMAC) scored the equalizer in the 78th minute when Skyhawks head coach Damian Clarke switched up roles for freshman defensive midfielder Katie Smith. He moved Smith off of the back line and up to center forward and the plan worked. After a poor back pass by a Mesa defender, Smith rushed onto the ball and chipped the keeper, which tied the game at 1.
Clarke knew that he had to switch things up and thought that Smith’s size and strength would be a tough matchup for the Mesa defense.
“Coming from behind is always a good feeling and Katie found a way to score a goal to get us back in the game, and it was a very brave, very huge play for a freshman,” Clarke said.
The teams went to extra time but neither side was able to find the game-winning goal, despite a few set pieces from Fort Lewis late in the match.
“It feels good,” Clarke said. “It will be a really tight finish because so many teams have four wins, but I think the kids can smile at the end of the day because it’s been a long time since they walked away with results in both weekend games.”
The Skyhawks sit in 10th place with 13 points, but are just two points off of the final spot, which is currently held by the Mavericks.
The Skyhawks will end their regular season this weekend as they take on Colorado State-Pueblo at 1 p.m. Thursday at Dirks Field, followed by a 1 p.m. match against New Mexico Highlands on Saturday.
bploen@durangoherald.com
