Whatever goal scoring troubles the Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team had this season appear to be a thing of the past.
After scoring just three goals through their first seven matches, the Skyhawks have broken through and notched six goals in their last two games following a 4-1 victory against Black Hills State on Friday afternoon in Spearfish, South Dakota.
“I think the girls are coming together and the finishing piece is getting better,” FLC head coach Jimmy Hall said. “Those are what you want to see happen. We’re a relatively young group and we’re building a lot of confidence and being successful. The success is from all the hard work that’s starting to pay off with those goals now.”
The Skyhawks (3-6-1, 3-4-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) got off to a fast start against the Yellow Jackets (0-10, 0-5 RMAC) and put six of their eight shots on goal in the first half.
Meredith Curran found the back on the net in the eighth minute for her second goal of the season. Then, 10 minutes later, Emma Patron received a cross and found the goal for her first score of the season to give FLC a 2-0 lead.
Fort Lewis extended its lead in the 32nd minute. After the Skyhawks drew a foul and were awarded a free kick, senior Alicia Sanchez stepped up and fired a shot past the Yellow Jackets. It was Sanchez’s second goal of the season.
Black Hills State scored in the 42nd minute on a goal from Katie Nielson, whose goal was the only shot on goal the Yellow Jackets recorded in the first half thanks to a strong performance from the FLC back line.
“I think we were really sharp, and you have to give kudos to the groups playing back there,” Hall said of the defense. “We have five center backs and only one traveled with us. We have a few injuries and one player attending to some family things this weekend. We had people playing in the back who are traditionally playing in the midfield, so I thought for it being a new back line outside of Shannon (Harpham) and Mia (Castaneda), the girls really stepped up and did a great job back there.”
FLC came out just as dominant in the second half, and Patron recorded her second goal of the match on a shot from about 25 yards out that stretched the Skyhawks’ lead back to three goals at 4-1.
The Skyhawks will get a week off to prepare for its next match when they host Colorado Mesa (6-4-0, 3-2-0 RMAC) on Oct. 13 at Dirks Field.
Ryan Lee scored his first goal of the season int he 54th minute, Metro State helped the Fort Lewis cause with an own-goal in the 68th minute, and Churchill Onumonu capped off a strong night for the Skyhawks with a goal in the 73rd minute to give FLC a 3-0 road win in Denver.
FLC (4-3-4, 4-1-2 RMAC) attacked all night with 24 shots and 10 on goal in the win against the Metro State Roadrunners (4-7, 4-3 RMAC), who had 16 shots and only four on goal. Peter Byrne made all four saves for his fourth shutout of the season.
The win was big for the Skyhawks, who entered the match fifth in the conference standings with the Roadrunners previously in fourth place.
FLC will return home to play at 1 p.m. Sunday against Colorado Christian (3-8, 1-5-1 RMAC).
The Fort Lewis College volleyball team fell 3-0 to one of the top teams in the conference Friday night at home inside Whalen Gymnasiu,
Colorado Mines won 25-21, 25-14, 25-13 to improve to 13-3 overall and 7-0 in the RMAC. FLC fell to 8-7 and 3-4 in conference play.
Hannah Martinez led FLC with six kills, and Emily Dellenbach and Bailey Longacre each had five kills. The Orediggerrs had 52 kills to 25 for FLC.
Kendra Swackenberg had 20 kills for the Skyhawks, and Megan Graefe had 16 digs.
The Skyhawks are home again at 5 p.m. Saturday night against Colorado Christian.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
