Box Score
2010 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship Bracket
DURANGO, Colo. — Jordan Alexander had a goal and two assists to lead Fort Lewis College (11-5-2 overall, 10-2-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a 3-0 win over Adams State College (1-16-0, 1-13-0) today at Dirks Field.
The victory, coupled with Mesa State's 2-1 upset at Regis today, clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's RMAC men's soccer championships and a first-round bye for the Skyhawks.
“Obviously, it's very important,” second-year head coach Oige Kennedy said of the first round bye. “Having the extra couple of days to prepare for whoever the opponent is on Friday is very important for us. We probably didn't deserve to be first in the conference, but certainly deserved the No. 2 seed. It's a nice reward.”
With three regular players out of the lineup for the Adams State game, Kennedy was forced to use younger players more than they've been accustomed to. He cited the play of forward Casey Dean, defender R.J. Parke and Alexander.
“Jordan is still a work in progress,” Kennedy said. “For the amount of minutes he's had on the field this year, his return on goals has been very good. We think that in the next couple of years, he'll become a major talent.”
Cory Dean got things started for the Skyhawks when he blasted a shot from the right side past ASC goalkeeper Dillon Lee just 5:37 into the match. Dean's fifth goal of the year was set up by a series of passes: Alexander worked the ball into the box to Keane Hamilton, who feigned a shot before sending it to the right side to Dean. Both were credited with assists on the bang-bang play.
Just ten minutes later at 15:40, Alexander again touched a pass to Hamilton in the middle of the box. This time, Hamilton rifled a shot into the back of the net for his fourth marker of the season.
Alexander finished the scoring at 70:42 when Berekk Blackwell set him up in the box. The goal was Alexander's fifth of the year.
Fort Lewis dominated play, outshooting the Grizzlies 28-2 overall and 10-1 in shots on frame.
Lee made seven saves for Adams State, while Ryan Wirth stopped one shot while recording his second complete-game shutout of the season.
Coming off its second NCAA Division II national championship in five years, Fort Lewis finds itself fighting two other RMAC rivals — Regis (13-2-3, 9-2-3), ranked No. 9 in the latest NSCAA/HendrickCars.com poll, and Metro State (11-5-2, 8-4-2), ranked No. 23 nationally — for the second and final NCAA playoff berth in the Central Region. Nationally-ranked No. 4 Colorado Mines (15-1-1, 12-1-1) has likely wrapped up the top seed for the regional playoffs. A strong finish in the RMAC championships could push the Skyhawks back into the national tournament. Fort Lewis qualified for the NCAA playoffs 10 times between 1997 and 2009, winning the '05 and '09 national titles while losing in the '99 and '06 NCAA championship games.
Colorado Mines will host the 2010 RMAC men's soccer championships at the CSM Soccer Field in Golden from Nov. 5-7. The host Orediggers are the top seed and will face the winner of the match between No. 4 Metro State and No. 5 Mesa State (10-6-2, 6-6-2) at 11 a.m. Friday. The Skyhawks, seeded second, face the winner of the game between No. 3 Regis and No. 6 CSU-Pueblo (7-10-1, 6-7-1) at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The RMAC men's soccer championship is scheduled for noon next Sunday.
