Box score

DENVER — Perhaps it was fitting that the defending NCAA Division II national champion Fort Lewis men's soccer team ended its season with a 3-2 loss at Metro State today in the quarterfinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs.
 
“It's that same Jekyll and Hyde that we've been dealing with all season,” said fourth-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy.
 
Fort Lewis (9-8-2 overall) scored two goals in the first six minutes to take control of the match.
 
“We played very well in the first 20 minutes and managed to get ourselves two goals up,” said Kennedy.
 
Senior forward Andy Hoffman and freshman Yannis Becker combined for a bang-bang play in the box with Hoffman dropping the ball to Becker, who blasted a shot off the left post and into the net at 4:17 to give FLC a 1-0 advantage. The goal was Becker's team-high seventh of the season and the assist marked the first point of Hoffman's Skyhawk career.
 
Less than two minutes later, Becker floated a corner kick in from the right that found the head of senior defender Derek Freeman. Freeman's shot beat MSUD goalkeeper Issa Bissau and stretched the lead to 2-0 exactly six minutes into the game. The goal was Freeman's third of the season, all of which came off set pieces.
 
Two minutes later, sophomore midfielder Artur Piperkov fielded a ball with space in front of him on the right flank, but one-timed a shot wide right instead of moving into the box.
 
The Roadrunners settled down after that and finished the half strong. At recess, the Roadrunners had built an 11-7 shots advantage, forcing Skyhawk goalkeeper Ryan Schaul to make four saves in the first frame.
 
They didn't miss much in the second stanza.
 
Marc Herschberger scored a pair of goals in the first 4:38 of the second half to level the score at 2-2. His first went into an empty net after Schaul made a diving save of a blast by Brenden Hughes just 57 seconds in. Andy Lopez also assisted on the play.
 
Herschberger's second — and 12th of the season —was a ball shot from just outside the goalie's box off a cross. Hughes and Danny Arrubla assisted.
 
The Roadrunners continued to pressure and ultimately got the game-winner at 71:48 when Pierce Galan scored from the top right side of the box off a crossing pass from Arrubla. A surprise hero, the marker was the first of Galan's collegiate career.
 
The Skyhawks had their chances to equalize late, though. They had three corner kicks in the final 14 minutes. Down the stretch, Bissau made a solid save on a good scoring chance by Becker. With 1:40 remaining, Alberto Capdepon had the chance to bury a header, but the ball sailed wide left.
 
Bissau made two saves in the contest to earn the victory. Schaul stopped seven shots in suffering defeat.
 
Following the game, Kennedy was melancholy in summarizing the end of the careers of his four seniors — Freeman, Hoffman, Daniel Wilson and Kyle Woodson.
 
“Our four seniors have been absolutely immense these past couple of weeks,” he said. “They've played like warriors. We wish them the best of luck in whatever they do next. They've been a big part of our history.”
 
Shortly after the completion of the game, the RMAC announced its all-conference teams for men's and women's soccer. Woodson was the lone Skyhawk to net first team accolades, while Wilson was a third team selection.
 
Returning players Becker, Piperkov and Casey Dean earned second team All-RMAC nods.
 
“We'll have to work as hard as we can to make sure we never have a season like this again,” said Kennedy.
 
While FLC managed to notch its 16th straight winning season, it also posted its worst record since the 1996 squad went 7-10-2.
 
The Skyhawks also qualified for the RMAC playoffs for the 17th year in a row — and are the only team to advance to the league tournament all 17 years that the RMAC has sponsored men's soccer — they achieved the dubious feat of becoming the first FLC side to lose in the quarterfinals. Fort Lewis also posted its worst-ever record in league games at 6-6-2, tying the 1996 squad with a .500 RMAC record.
 
Metro State (12-6-1) won both meetings with Fort Lewis by single-goal margins, cutting into FLC's dominating 31-18-4 advantage in the all-time series. The Roadrunners' two-goal comeback marked the first time they've rallied from a 2-0 deficit since a 5-3 win over FLC on Sept. 7, 2007.
 
Second-seeded and No. 23 Colorado Mines (12-4-2) hosts Metro State at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Golden, Colo., in the RMAC semifinals.