Sunday afternoon at Dirks Field was certainly not the way the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team’s senior class wanted to go out. In fact, it was not the way that the rest of the Skyhawks team wanted to go out, either.
Dixie State stunned the Skyhawks 2-1 on senior day, even after being down a man for the final 20 minutes of the match and it was a sour way for Fort Lewis to end the home portion of its schedule.
Hakeem Rabiu gave Fort Lewis an early 1-0 lead in the fourth minute after the Trailblazer’s goalkeeper misjudged and overran a 50-50 ball in the air and Rabiu headed it into the open net. Fort Lewis maintained pressure on the Trailblazers, as they registered four more shots in the half. However, Dixie State leveled the score in the 31st minute after they earned a corner kick. Dominic Damato delivered in a ball that found Idris Alabi, who headed it past Skyhawks goalkeeper Victor Salcido. The goal came against the run of play and the teams went in level at the break.
In the second half, Dixie State’s offense came out looking for a second goal and it worked. In the 51st minute, the Trailblazers earned a penalty kick after an attacker was taken down in the penalty box. Ricky Nunez converted the penalty, which gave the Trailblazers the 2-1 lead.
There would be more drama, however, for both sides. In the 67th minute, Fort Lewis had its best chance to even the score, when sophomore forward Ryan Lee’s shot hit the post, the rebound came out to Rabiu, who found Bar Hazut, who’s shot was cleared off of the line and away. It was the moment that summed up the match for Hazut.
“It was one of those days, that no matter what, the ball just wouldn’t go in the net,” Hazut said. “I thought it was in because the goalkeeper was right next to me, but when I saw it was cleared, I was shocked.”
The Trailblazers created their own set of problems, when Michael Cardenas was sent off for kicking a Fort Lewis defender in the leg during a goal kick in the 73rd minute. The referee caught the blatant offense and sent Cardenas to the locker room. FLC had chances to get the equalizer, but registered just two shots with the extra man, despite having possession and sent numerous crosses into the box that were cleared away.
The Skyhawks had one more chance in the waning moments off of a corner kick, but it was headed away and the match ended 2-1.
Trailblazer’s head coach Jonny Broadhead thought that even after his team went down a man, they got a bit lucky.
“It takes a little bit of luck and we had to keep the ball out of our goal with a lot of Fort Lewis’s extra pressure,” Broadhead said. “They did a good job with a lot of numbers in the box, but I told our guys that ‘you have to keep your heads.’ It’s a good, fun rowdy crowd and with the red card, we started to make silly decisions. I told the guys to stay level-headed, and to make the saves and we were much better in the penalty boxes today, and so, a little luck was definitely involved.”
Head coach David Oberholtzer said it’s been the same message he’s been repeating that the Skyhawks can’t do: Put away the chances.
“I feel like I’m repeating myself, but it’s been a lot of the same stuff we’ve been dealing with,” Oberholtzer said. “We had control of the game, had better play during the game, created good chances and didn’t finish them. I’ve been telling the same story for the past couple of weeks now, and it’s the same one today.”
The Skyhawks will now end the regular season with four road games. Fort Lewis will travel to South Dakota School of Mines & Technology to play the Hardrockers at 6 p.m. Friday in Rapid City, South Dakota, followed by a trip back to Colorado, where they will play Colorado School of Mines at noon on Sunday in Golden.
The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team dropped its sixth consecutive match Sunday afternoon, as they lost 3-0 to Dixie State in St. George. Dixie State got on the board in the ninth minute when Taylor Claiborne intercepted a goal kick from Skyhawk’s goalkeeper Britt Blomso, and found Whitney Johns, who chipped it over Blomso to give the Trailblazers a 1-0 lead. That would be the score at the half, as the Skyhawks were outshot 4-1.
In the second half, Dixie State grabbed another early goal, after Claiborne was the assister again, this time, she delivered a perfect cross to Kelsey Cook, and she scored from eight yards out, which gave the Trailblazers the 2-0 lead.
Johns scored her seventh goal of the season and second of the game in the 69th minute, after Kilee Lamb-Allsop delivered in a cross from the right flank, and Johns received the pass, took a touch and finished, which gave Dixie State a 3-0 lead and win.
During the Skyhakwks’ six-game losing streak, they have been shutout in four matches, including the last three, bringing the total time without a goal to 328 minutes and 54 seconds. The Skyhawks’ last goal came Oct. 5 against then No. 24 University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, when Britney Johnson scored off of a free kick in the 38th minute of the match.
Fort Lewis will look to end its losing and scoreless streak against Western State Colorado at 3 p.m. Friday in Gunnison.
bploen@durangoherald.com
