Mother Nature was the game changer for both Fort Lewis men’s and women’s soccer teams. Literally.
After inspecting a snow-covered Dirks Field on Wednesday, FLC made the call to move both the men’s and women’s soccer games down to Farmington High School.
The women adjusted better to the change and dominated Western Colorado 4-0. The Skyhawks’ men’s soccer team struggled to find the back of the net against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s worst team in Adams State. The men’s team scored late in the second half for a much-needed 1-0 win.
After the win, the Skyhawks’ men’s soccer team finished the regular season 11-2-5 overall and 7-2-1 in RMAC play. Adams State dropped to 2-12-2 overall and 0-9-1.
“There were a lot of challenges to overcome for the group,” FLC men’s soccer coach David Oberholtzer said. “Going from expecting to have a home game to the day of the game being moved to a different location. Going from where you typically have a great atmosphere at Dirks to a high school 45 minutes away where there's not much of an atmosphere at all. It was a tight field, really small and really fast field. All of those things just suited Adams State and made it an equalizer to a certain extent.”
FLC dominated possession and outshot Adams State 26-6. However, both teams had five shots on goal. Oberholtzer said the Grizzlies were solid behind the ball which made things difficult.
After outshooting Adams State 13-1 in the first half, a Skyhawks substitute made the winning play. In the 84th minute, freshman forward Vincent Edgell got the ball on the left side in Adams State’s half, dribbled inside toward goal and found junior midfielder David Citron who finished close to the net.
FLC led 1-0 and kept that lead in the final six minutes but the Skyhawks still got some bad news. Redshirt junior Quinn Bosanko was given his second yellow card and was sent off with about 90 seconds to go. Oberholtzer said Bosanko was frustrated with the Grizzlies’ flopping and said something to an Adams State player which the ref didn’t like. Bosanko will miss the opening round of the RMAC tournament.
The Skyhawks clinched the No. 3 seed in the RMAC tournament with the win. They will face No. 6 MSU Denver at home on Sunday at 5 p.m.
Unlike the men’s team, junior defender Rachel Peebles got the women’s soccer team a goal almost immediately. Junior forward Josie Coulter assisted Peebles to put the Skyhawks up 1-0 four minutes into the game.
Sophomore forward Jenna Salazar quickly added to the total in the 10th minute. She hit a bouncing ball with her first touch that was smashed over the goalkeeper and into the net for a 2-0 lead. Coulter was also credited with the assist for that goal.
“She does a good job of posting up, helping us and bringing us forward,” FLC women’s soccer head coach Damian Clarke said about Coulter. “You'd like to think just out of proximity to goal and where she's at, she's going to have a lot of opportunities to make the pass that allows us to get shots off. She's better. She works really hard. The kid is definitely a blue-collar type nine (forward). She’s going to run around, make it hard for defenders and connect easy passes underneath herself to bring people forward.”
Sophomore Ashlyn Salas scored the final two goals for FLC. She finished in the 44th minute and the 87th minute to seal a convincing win. Clarke was happy for Salas and said she was fantastic since shooting isn’t one of her strengths.
FLC finished the regular season 8-5-4 overall and 5-4-3 in the RMAC after outshooting Western Colorado 20-16. Western Colorado did have more shots on goal with an 11-8 advantage and fell to 4-10-4 overall and 3-6-3 in the RMAC after the loss.
The Skyhawks move on to the RMAC tournament as the No. 7 seed. They will play No. 8 Regis at home on Friday at 1 p.m.
“We would have liked to avoid this play-in game that we're going to play on Friday, for sure,” Clarke said. “But at the same time, the group earned another game to play together. The goal is to keep on earning games to give another go and go play together.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
