The Fort Lewis College men's soccer team did what it needed to do Sunday, rolling to a 3-0 road win over South Dakota Mines to put itself in position to make the RMAC Tournament for a third straight season.
Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they did not get the help they needed to punch that playoff ticket. Metro State Denver rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 4-3 over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The Roadrunners’ win, coupled with a 4-1 win by Regis over Adams State, combined to push FLC outside the six qualifying spots for the RMAC Tournament.
Fort Lewis (8-8-1 overall, 5-5 RMAC) finishes the year with 15 conference points and in a tie for sixth place in the RMAC standings with Regis (9-7-1 overall, 5-5 RMAC). The Rangers won the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot because of a 2-1 victory Friday against FLC.
“I thought we played well (Sunday), created 24 shots and 17 shots on goal, while putting three goals on the scoreboard. It was a good team performance from the group,” said FLC head men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer. “But, unfortunately, we did not do enough during the conference portion of the season to keep (playoff fate) in our hands.”
A goal in the 57th minute was the difference as the Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 contest to MSU Denver on Sunday.
MSU Denver had 18 shots compared with eight for Fort Lewis. Eight of MSU Denver’s attempts were on goal versus three for Fort Lewis.
Sophomore Katlyn Rosenbaum had seven saves on the day, starting in her sixth game of the season for FLC. MSU Denver’s golden opportunity came in the 57th minute when Katy Coats placed a shot top left, beyond the reach of Rosenbaum, for the 1-0 edge. The Roadrunners had several additional opportunities down the stretch, each denied by the sophomore keeper, but the FLC offense couldn’t convert as the home squad earned the 1-0 shutout.
Metro improved to 9-5-2, 6-5-0 with the win.
Fort Lewis (4-9-2, 2-7-2) will conclude its regular season on Wednesday at Western Colorado University.
Playing in its fourth-straight five-set match on Friday, the Fort Lewis College volleyball team came up short against Westminster College in Utah.
Fort Lewis won the first set, 25-19, and the third set by the same score. Westminster, however, won the second, fourth and fifth sets (25-17, 25-22 and 15-9) to take the match.
The Skyhawks then closed out the weekend road trip with a straight-set loss to Colorado Mesa University on Saturday, 25-13, 25-12 and 25-18.
Colorado Mesa hit at an impressive .400 clip for the match while holding Fort Lewis to a .063 mark. The Mavericks were equally as impressive defensively, tallying 52 digs versus 36 for the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis moves to 6-12 overall and 6-8 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference while Mesa improves to 17-4 on the year and 12-2 in the league. Westminster also improved to 5-18, 3-10.
FLC will return to Whalen for a pair of games this week. Fort Lewis will take on Colorado Christian University at 6 p.m. Friday and Metropolitan State at 4 p.m. Saturday.
