Box score
ALAMOSA, Colo. — Trevor Gibbons and
Artur Piperkov scored goals as defending NCAA Division II national champion Fort Lewis (7-4-1 overall, 4-3-1 in the
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) held off Adams State (1-10-0, 1-6-0) 2-1 today at the ASU Lacrosse & Soccer Field.
“It was good,” fourth-year head coach
Oige Kennedy said of today's effort. “It was one of the few times this season where we played as a team and a family and everyone played together.”
Trevor Gibbons staked the Skyhawks to a 1-0 lead at 32:20 when he banged a shot off the inside post off a
Casey Dean assist. The marker was Gibbons' third of the season, all of which have come in the past eight days.
Artur Piperkov headed home
Yannis Becker's corner kick at 49:11 to double the lead. Piperkov's second goal of 2012 proved to be the game-winner. Both of his goals this season have been game-winners against ASU; his other came in a 1-0 win in Durango last month.
Adams State cut the deficit in half when Matthew Stefanko scored his first goal of the season at 59:19, heading Jacob Campbell's corner kick past FLC netminder
Ryan Schaul.
“We had 16 shots and probably could have scored a lot more goals than we did,” said Kennedy.
FLC's next-best chance came at 33:37 when Dean hit the crossbar on a penalty kick.
The Skyhawks outshot the Grizzlies 16-9 overall, 9-3 in shots on target.
Schaul made two saves for FLC in improving to 7-4-1. Mike Miller stopped seven shots for Adams State.
Fort Lewis improved to a perfect 7-0-0 all-time against the Grizzlies, who are now competing in their fourth year of men's soccer.
A little over the midway point of the RMAC regular season title chase, Fort Lewis finds itself in fifth place with 13 points (three are awarded for a win, one for a tie). No. 3 Regis (10-0-1, 8-0-0) is running away with the league crown with 24 points, but still must face Fort Lewis twice in the final three weekends of league play. The Rangers are trailed by Colorado Mesa (18 points, 6-2-0), UC-Colorado Springs (15, 5-3-0), Colorado Mines (14, 4-2-2), Fort Lewis (13, 4-3-1), and Metro State (12, 4-5-0). The top six teams advance to the league playoffs. Unlike the women's tournament, the RMAC tourney champ does not earn an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.
Fort Lewis has a rare home-and-road weekend coming up. They host Colorado State-Pueblo (4-7-1, 2-5-1) at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Dirks Field, then travel to UC-Colorado Springs (6-5-0, 5-3-0) at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Friday's meeting between the Skyhawks and ThunderWolves is their first of 2012. FLC has dominated the all-time series, leading 39-7-2 and winning the past two meetings.
Fort Lewis has also dominated the series with UC-Colorado Springs, leading 38-6-4. The Mountain Lions snapped a 22-game skid at the hands of the Skyhawks by upsetting FLC 3-2 in Durango on Sept. 23.
