Box score

DURANGO, Colo. — Brett Drefs scored from point-blank range in the 75th minute to lead UC-Colorado Springs (2-4-0 overall, 1-2-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) to a huge upset over defending national champion Fort Lewis (5-2-1, 2-1-1) today at Dirks Field.
 
After Fort Lewis was whistled for a handball outside of the box, UCCS' Sebastian Hertzberg floated a free kick from the right side that found the head of Max Thomas to the left of the goal. Thomas flicked the ball across the keeper's area to a wide open Drefs, who tapped in the pass for his second goal of the year at 74:42.
 
“I think overall, I think our performance was not good enough,” said fourth-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy. “We lacked the right amount of heart, desire, and fighting qualities to win a soccer game. When you combine that with the mistakes we made defensively, we had no right to win the game.”
 
UC-Colorado Springs forward Mash Shaswar was the beneficiary of two of those mistakes in the first nine minutes, scoring twice to silence the home crowd. Shaswar's first marker was a perfectly-placed shot from the top of the box at 4:12. His second came on a 2-on-1 breakaway in which he beat the defender and fooled a charging FLC goalkeeper Ryan Schaul at 8:51. The goals were Shaswar's fifth and sixth of the 2012 campaign.
 
“The first goal, we just turned the ball over when we were in possession. We tried to dribble out of the back, which we should never do,” said Kennedy. “On the second goal, we turned the ball over with a poor pass and they made us pay for it. The lesson we learned is you can't make mistakes at this level.”
 
The Skyhawks rallied, though, playing clinical soccer while the Mountain Lions packed 10 men into their half of the pitch for most of the remainder of the contest. Kyle Woodson finally put FLC on the board when he blasted a shot from 20 yards out from the far right of the goal off an Artur Piperkov assist to trim the lead to 2-1 at 59:44. The marker was Woodson's first in a Skyhawk uniform.
 
The score leveled after UCCS was called for a handball in the box at 74:42. Kosta Kordistos buried the penalty to record his second goal of the season.
 
Then one more miscue — a handball committed while a player was falling and trying to clear the ball out of bounds — and it was lights out for FLC.
 
“We dominated the second half aside from the moment that we got punished for,” said Kennedy. “We just can't give a team such a big head start.”
 
The spirited affair saw 21 fouls whistled (11 against UC-Colorado Springs) and five yellow cards issued (four to UCCS).
 
Fort Lewis outshot UCCS 18-7 overall and 7-4 in shots on frame. But the Mountain Lions made the most of their opportunities, scoring on three of their four shots on goal.
 
Brandon Costa made five saves in improving to 2-4-0 overall. Schaul fell to 5-2-1 while making one stop.
 
The win ended the Mountain Lions' 22-game losing streak to the 17th-ranked Skyhawks — a skid that stretched back to Nov. 2, 2001. The last time UCCS beat FLC was a 1-0 win in Colorado Springs on Oct. 27, 2001. The last time they won on Dirks Field was on Sept. 26, 1999 — a stretch that saw FLC reel off 12 straight home wins over the Mountain Lions.