Rediscovering a bit of their old winning touch couldn’t have come at a better time for the Skyhawks.
The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team shook off its first three-game losing streak in a decade and won its second consecutive game with a 1-0 victory over CSU-Pueblo on Sunday at Dirks Field.
At 6-3-1 overall and 3-3-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Skyhawks kept themselves in position for a run back toward the upper reaches of the league with Sunday’s victory. FLC will go on the road next weekend to Metro State and Colorado Mines and will play those same teams at home later in the year along with home games against Regis and Colorado Mesa, all teams the Skyhawks hope to track down in the standings.
“That’s the one positive, I guess, of the losses is that we still have to play against the teams we think will be at the top half of the table,” FLC head coach Oige Kennedy said. “And also taking points from them on the road gives us the best possible opportunity of having a successful year.”
Fort Lewis created several scoring chances and held a 20-9 advantage in shots. The lone tally of the afternoon came courtesy of a ThunderWolves’ own goal in the 8th minute, although not without strong work by FLC to get there. Austin Derksen made a nice run down the left wing from his spot at left back, made a nifty move to clear his defender and sent a cross toward the net that hit off a CSUP defender and skipped into the net.
After scoring six times in Friday’s win at Adams State, FLC looked poised for a similar offensive breakthrough in the first half. Elliot Prost hit the post in the 12th minute on a nice shot from about 18 yards out, and a corner kick was deflected tantalizingly close to the goal line, only for CSUP goalkeeper Sam Haseltine to pull himself off the turf just enough to slap it away.
All told, FLC managed six of its eight shots on goal in the frame, forcing Haseltine to make five of his seven saves.
“I think we sometimes don’t do ourselves any favors with the amount of chances that we created, especially in the first half,” Kennedy said. “So I think looking to what we can improve upon, I think we have to put teams away early on some of those chances.”
“I think the goals will come,” Assefa said.
The possession game helped the Skyhawks ride out the victory in the second half, although not without some challenges. The closest the ThunderWolves (1-8-1, 0-5-1 RMAC) came to breaking through came in the 85th minute, when Haseltine took a free kick from the CSUP half of the field that bounced and hit the crossbar, and FLC goalkeeper Ryan Schaul made a great save on the rebound, stopping Dustin Geist’s header from point-blank range.
In the end, however, FLC was able to preserve just its third clean sheet of the season behind four saves from Schaul.
“We were solid in the back (Sunday), which was nice,” Derksen said. “A shutout for us after conceding three on Friday is nice.”
The depth continued to show through for FLC in the absence of center back Johannes Sander and midfielder Yannis Becker, including Assefa, who played all 90 minutes and helped spark FLC’s possession game one game after scoring his first goal of the year.
“I feel like it gets easier and easier every game and just feel more comfortable every game,” Assefa said.
Prost, Artur Piperkov and Brandon Dooley received yellow cards for FLC. Both teams were whistled for 10 fouls each, including a combined 13 in the second half as the game became tense.
The Skyhawks return to the pitch at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Denver against the Roadrunners.
Fort Lewis will return home after a three-game road swing at Metro State, Colorado Mines and a return engagement with CSU-Pueblo to take on Regis at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 at Dirks Field.
rowens@durangoherald.com
