The scoreless streak may be over for the No. 5 Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team, but the winning streak remains intact.
FLC (6-0-0, 2-0-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) defeated New Mexico Highlands 2-1 on Wednesday at Dirks Field to keep its unblemished record ... unblemished.
Grace Thompson pulled the Cowgirls level in the 61st minute when she chipped a rebound off the post over Caitlyn Espinosa, ending 478 minutes, 57 seconds of shutout soccer for the Skyhawks.
“I think we came into this game a little overconfident based on the result we had before,” Skyhawks defender Nicole Schumacher said.
FLC’s bench looked subdued before Thompson’s goal, but it jumped up immediately afterward and stayed standing the rest of the game.
Schumacher delivered the winner in the 66th minute when her 30-yard free kick slipped through Kayla Clarke’s fingers.
“I thought we did well to respond. That’s really what you’re asking of them at that point is to hopefully have some type of response,” FLC head coach Damian Clarke said.
Brooke Milliet opened the scoring in the 53rd minute when she found the back of the net off Sam Weiss’ feed.
Wednesday’s game was FLC’s second against N.M. Highlands in less than a week after the first match was canceled because of lightning.
The Skyhawks led 4-0 in the first go-around and were 2 minutes away from that game being official.
“There’s a lot of psychological aspect we had to negotiate there,” coach Clarke said. “Obviousley we’re tough enough to beat the same team twice in a row.”
One streak is over; one streak continues.
“We have to come together, work harder and not get down on ourselves,” defender Lauren Riley said in response to the end of the scoreless streak.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
