Box score

DURANGO, Colo. — There were no last-minute heroics this time around, no golden goals. Instead, arch-rivals and longtime Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference powerhouses No. 22 Fort Lewis (4-1-1 overall, 1-0-1 RMAC) and Colorado Mines (3-1-2, 0-0-2) settled for a 1-1 draw in double overtime today at Dirks Field.
 
“It was a tough battle,” said fourth-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy. “Having come off 110 minutes on Friday and another 110 minutes today, I liked how we battled through things. Unfortunately, we couldn't break through in the end.”
 
Fort Lewis' Casey Dean beat Colorado Mines goalkeeper Manville Strand and sent a sliding shot into the open net at 56:36 to give the defending NCAA Division II champions a 1-0 lead and send the crowd into a frenzy. Alberto Capdepon sent a through ball that Dean was able to send past Strand a split second before a furious collision left the Skyhawk striker down for a few minutes. The goal was Dean's third of the season.
 
“It was really good defensive work and pressure to get them to turn the ball over,” said Kennedy. “Capo sent a great ball to Casey, who was able to beat the keeper and finish it off.”
 
But that lead lasted just 29 seconds when a Mines player was pulled down in the box, setting up Mines' lethal Tesho Akindele with a penalty kick. Akindele buried his league-leading seventh goal of the season at 57:05 to level the score.
 
As expected, the game was a spirited affair. Thirty fouls were whistled — 22 against the Orediggers — and five cards issued. Two went to FLC's Yannis Becker, who was sent off in the 106th minute after receiving his second yellow of the game. The latter infraction was for an intentional hand ball in Mines' box, forcing the Skyhawks to play the final 4:11 a man down. Becker, who scored a pair of game-winning goals earlier this week, will be forced to sit out FLC's next contest.
 
Injuries to an already thin Skyhawk defense — Maik Brandt went down with an injury late in the second stanza — forced starting striker Derek Freeman to move to central defense for much of the latter portions of the game. The Skyhawks rested two injured starters — striker Kosta Kordistos and central defender Stephan Engeln — for the entire match.
 
Most of the statistics were even. The Skyhawks owned a 17-15 advantage in shots, 8-6 in shots on frame. FLC had five corner kicks to Mines' four.
 
CSM's Strand made seven saves, while FLC's Ryan Schaul stopped five shots.
 
The rivalry between the Skyhawks and Orediggers is amongst the fiercest in NCAA Division II. While FLC owns a 28-13-5 lead in the series, the two schools have combined for 13 RMAC regular season titles (9 by the Skyhawks) and 14 RMAC playoff championships (11 by the Skyhawks) in the 16 previous seasons that the league has sponsored men's soccer.
 
Fort Lewis continues its homestand next weekend when it hosts Adams State (1-3-0, 1-0-0) and UC-Colorado Springs (1-3-0, 0-1-0) at Dirks Field next Friday and Sunday. Both games kick off at 3:30 p.m.