Artur Piperkov sparked a rally with one swing of his leg.
The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team trailed Colorado School of Mines 3-1 in the second half before Piperkov struck a free kick from 40 yards out into the bottom right corner.
The Skyhawks came all the way back to beat the archrival Miners 5-4 in double overtime Friday at Dirks Field.
Luke Lawrence found the ball in a scramble and tucked it under the keeper for the game winner.
Tamino Kroeger scored 31 seconds after Piperkov in regular time to knot the match at three and converted a penalty with just more than two minutes remaining to send the game into overtime.
“It was important that Artur scored the free kick,” Kroeger said. “In such situations, you just need such goals.”
FLC (9-7-1, 6-7 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) needed every goal it could get against the second highest scoring team in the conference.
Mines (10-5-1, 8-5 RMAC) answered the Skyhawks’ first goal less than a minute after Maik Brandt opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 15th minute.
Reigning RMAC Player of the Year Tesho Akindele netted two more after that to put the Orediggers up 3-1 and take this year’s RMAC individual scoring lead.
“We had to work super hard to score our goals, and we probably let them in a little too easy,” FLC head coach Oige Kennedy said. “They’re such an offensive team, and they’ve got real qualities in Baski (Baker) and Tesho. We’re a little bit disappointed with the defensive effort but were positive throughout.”
The Skyhawks looked deflated after Akindele’s second goal and would have trailed more had Mines’ first few attempts in the second half been on target. They played with more energy after Piperkov’s strike, carrying all of the momentum into the overtime periods.
Even Baker’s header in the 70th minute that gave the Orediggers the lead back after Kroeger’s first goal didn’t deter FLC.
“Once we got that confidence, we started moving the ball, and it created a chance,” Lawrence said.
The Skyhawks snapped a two-game losing streak in their final home game of the regular season. FLC has one more regular-season game at 11 a.m. Sunday at Colorado Christian in Lakewood before the RMAC Tournament.
“We’ve beaten Regis this year, we’ve beaten Mines, and those are two top quality teams that obviously have determined where the conference will end up,” Kennedy said. “It’s shown that on our day we can obviously win those games, but we have to show up.
“If we do that, we definitely have a chance at winning some silverware this year,” Kennedy said of the tournament’s silver championship plate, which FLC has won 11 times.
FLC is fifth in the standings. Six teams will make the RMAC Tournament.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
