The Fort Lewis College Skyhawks will begin their seasons will a full slate of games this weekend.
The football team and men’s and women’s soccer will host games, while volleyball and cross-country will start on the road.
The men’s soccer team got the ball rolling Thursday by beating Lubbock Christian, 3-1.
“I’m super-proud of the guys,” said head coach David Oberholtzer. “I couldn’t ask for a better start.”
The team took only 2 minutes and 32 seconds to find the back of the net. Aymaro Vargas assisted Georgi Stoyanov to give FLC the early lead.
Lubbock Christian’s Fernando Flores tied the game in the 14th minute, but the Skyhawks responded with two goals before halftime.
“That took a bad bounce on (goalie) Pete (Byrne), but the response from our guys was fantastic,” Oberholtzer said.
In the 26th minute, Andres Hernandez assisted Milen Manchev on what proved to be the game-winning goal for Fort Lewis.
Just before halftime, however, the Skyhawks added an insurance goal when Gabriel Legendre assisted Matt Baldridge.
WIth Byrne directing his teammates, the Skyhawks held Lubock Christian to just two shots on goal in the win.
“Pete is our senior captain, a four-year starter and the leader for the group,” Oberholtzer said. “I thought what we saw defensively was a carry over from where we left off in the spring; no surprises there.”
The coach also said freshman Quinn Bosanko “was fantastic in the midfield today” in his first game as a Skyhawk.
The team will be back on the pitch at 4 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Texas-Permian Basin.
“Hopefully this creates some momentum,” Oberholtzer said. “I’m really happy with what the guys did, but this is part one of two parts we’re looking to complete this weekend.”
The Fort Lewis women’s soccer team will also host a pair of games this weekend. First, the team will take on West Texas A&M at 1 p.m. Friday.
On Sunday, the women’s soccer team will then host Texas Permian Basin at 11 a.m.
The Fort Lewis Football team, meanwhile, will begin its season by taking on RMAC foe New Mexico Highlands at Ray Dennison Memorial Field. It will be the team’s first game inside its stadium since Nov. 16, 2019.
“Rewarding. It’s going to be rewarding,” said head football coach Darrius Smith when asked what Saturday’s home opener will mean to the program. “Our goal is to take that reward of all the fans, and the appreciation they can give us on game day, and try to give them the best show that we can. If fans can see that, ‘Oh boy, this is a different Fort Lewis team than we’ve seen before,’ I’d be satisfied with that. But I want to win and these guys want to win.”
The FLC volleyball team, meanwhile, will play four games at the Bitkare Lady Buff Classic in Canyon, Texas. On Friday, the Skyhawks will play the University of Arkansas Fort Smith and West Texas A&M University. On Saturday, the team will take on Texas Permian Basin and Texas’ St. Mary’s University.
Fort Lewis’ men’s and women’s cross-country teams will also be running this weekend. The teams will begin their seasons at the Northern Arizona University Invitational on Saturday.
The school’s men’s and women’s golf teams, however, will have a couple more weeks to practice before teeing off at Colorado Christian University’s Mile High Shootout and Swan Memorial Sept. 14.
colivas@durangoherald.com
