The matchup between Fort Lewis men’s soccer and CSU Pueblo in the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Tournament Quarterfinal was expected to be close. After all, the teams had played three times previously this season with each taking a win and a tie.
Therefore, it wasn’t expected that the difference between a 1-0 loss for FLC and something different came down to a bouncing ball on an open goal.
Down 1-0 with second left in the first half, sophomore forward Anton Hjalmarsson received a flicked header down the right side of the ThunderWolves half. Hjalmarsson caught the CSU Pueblo goalkeeper in no man’s land outside the 18-yard box and chipped the ball over him and toward the open goal. The ball took one bounce around the 6-yard box then hit the crossbar and bounced away from the goal.
That’d be the last chance for FLC as the Skyhawks didn’t have a registered shot in the second half and lost 1-0.
“We struggled to get anything really going offensively ourselves,” FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said. “It was a tight game, but they're a good team. That's just the way it goes sometimes.”
FLC finished its season 14-4-6 overall and CSU Pueblo, the national runner-up the last two years, moved on to the semifinals after it improved to 17-3-3 overall.
The ThunderWolves had 16 shots compared to only four for the Skyhawks. CSU Pueblo had 10 shots on goal while FLC only had two. CSU Pueblo had an 8-0 shot advantage in the second half.
Oberholtzer said CSU Pueblo didn’t give FLC a lot of time and space on the ball to make good decisions.
CSU Pueblo scored thanks to a set piece which it does so well. In the 38th minute, CSU Pueblo had a throw-in on the left adjacent to the top of the 18-yard box. The ball was thrown beautifully toward the middle of the goal. The ball hit a few players before Dylan Zavatini finished it on the right side of the net.
In the second half, things went from bad to worse when senior defender Jakob Larson got tangled up with a CSU Pueblo forward battling for a through ball played toward the top of the 18-yard box in the 62nd minute. Larson was given a red card for the foul.
“It's quite bizarre to have made the call and then to come back and change your mind after the fact,” Oberholtzer said about Larson’s foul. “I haven't really seen that, but it is what it is. After that, to be down a man with still a good amount of time left in the half, the guys did a great job to continue to push and we didn't concede a second.”
A big part of FLC’s defense the whole game was sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Martin. He made nine saves including a huge diving save on the free-kick after Larson’s foul.
The Skyhawks will lose two players, midfielder Gabriel Legendre and Tomas Duenes, who left a massive impact on the program. Legendre finished his five-year career with 35 goals and 13 assists. Duenes will graduate after he finished his four-year career with 22 goals and 24 assists.
Senior defenders Larson, Adnan Elaqad, Thomas Kirkham and Luke Pope will graduate after two-year careers with FLC and were a huge part of getting the Skyhawks back to the NCAA tournament.
FLC should be in a great spot to compete at the top of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and to be back in the NCAA tournament next season if all the underclassmen return. Martin and Hjalmarsson will be juniors; David Citron and Casey Stracher will be seniors. Impressive freshmen like Fabrizio Aguilera, Jacob Ramos and Theo Bergman will return as sophomores.
“It's always tough when it ends and you always feel like it's premature unless you're winning the national championship,” Oberholtzer said. “I couldn't be more proud of the guys and it’s a great season. It's the furthest that the program has gone since 2011. We made some great strides last year and then improved upon it again this year. A big part of it has been the senior class and they've definitely left the program in a better place than they found it. That's something we ask of all the guys that come into the program.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
