The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team dominated Eastern New Mexico University on Thursday under the lights at Dirks Field and scored its first win of the season, 2-0.
Fort Lewis is now 1-3-1 on the year. ENMU dipped to 2-2 overall.
“Tonight was a collective effort. That is what we’ve been continuing to ask for over the last few games. We want them to stay together because eventually the shoe’s going to drop, and they will start believing in themselves,” said head coach Damian Clarke.
“We were able to press together, defend together, and keep the ball by supporting each other. These are all things that we have been working on but haven't been able to get going at the same time,” Clarke added. “This game was a reflection of that hard work.”
The Skyhawks dominated from kickoff and outshot the Greyhounds 20-1 for the match. They held a 10-0 edge in shots on goal. Sophomore Gaby Meraz-Fishbein scored the game’s first goal in the 12th minute, the first of her Skyhawks career, off the assist from sophomore McKenna Ford and freshman Rozlin Gomez. Sophomore Sabrina Reyes doubled the lead in the 26th minute with her first goal of the season, again off the assist of Ford.
“In our last three games that we played, we were under a lot of pressure, and that made passing difficult,” Clarke said. “That set us up to keep growing each time we played, even though it was difficult. It was passing that led us to goal-scoring opportunities tonight.”
Freshman Anna Tucker put the game’s first shot on target just two minutes into play after attempting to flick one behind the back off the pass from Ford. In the fifth minute, Gomez sent the ball top-left, but a sprawling save from the opposing keeper held the game scoreless.
The zeros wouldn’t last long. In the 12th minute, Ford intercepted an attempted clear just outside of the box and sent a sharp pass to Gomez up the middle. Gomez wasted no time dishing to Meraz-Fishbein, who sneaked a goal just inside the far post.
The Skyhawks continued to pressure, and it paid off in the 26th minute when Ford slid a short pass to the feet of Reyes and the sophomore booted one from distance out of the reach of the keeper to make it 2-0.
The Skyhawks continued to dominate possession in the second half and limited the Greyhounds to short spurts of time with the ball. Fort Lewis had a handful of good looks throughout the second half, finding the post on a pair of shots.
Sophomore Aubrey Swindle used her physicality to beat her defender downfield in the 82nd minute and sent an angled shot off the crossbar.
“This game was important in that we have a lot of players that deserve opportunities to play, and experience is the only way that we know how to get them prepared,” Clarke said. “It was good to see so many players get time on the field for their growth as well as our ability to rest some legs heading into Sunday.”
