DURANGO, Colo. – In a game that mattered a lot to both teams in regard to trying to make the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, CSU-Pueblo was able to get the only goal of the game early in the second half and held off several strong rushes by the Fort Lewis College women's soccer team to take the 1-0 victory in RMAC action at Dirks Field.
As expected, it was a low-scoring affair, but that didn't mean both teams weren't launching shots. CSU-Pueblo held a 19-17 advantage in shots and 11-7 on goal. After the ThunderWolves held an 8-5 edge in the first half, the teams combined for 23 shots in the second half with FLC holding the 12-11 lead.
FLC (5-9-2, 4-7-1 RMAC) generated all their corner kicks in the second half to end up with five, while CSU-Pueblo (8-5-3, 5-5-2 RMAC) finished with three. The game also featured 13 fouls by both teams and had three yellow cards handed out.
The ThunderWolves had the first early chance just over four minutes in when Mackenzie Bean got loose on the right side of the box and ripped a low shot for the corner that just missed. A few minutes later, it was FLC's turn to go on the attack with Emma Patron making several nice moves around defenders before taking a shot just inside the box that rang off the crossbar and after a scramble, Charlie Kaiser collected and took a shot that was saved.
Later in the half, Dylan Barker had a chance, but her shot was saved to take the game into halftime scoreless.
The Skyhawks brought the pressure right away in the second stanza with Kaiser's shot getting blocked, but as the ball bounced around, CSU-Pueblo was whistled for a hand ball foul in the box resulting in a penalty kick for FLC. Britney Johnson lined up to take the kick and as she let it go, Rylie Martin made the big save to keep the game scoreless.
That save fired up CSU-Pueblo as the ThunderWolves quickly turned the field and after a shot was blocked, Porsche Nieto's shot hit the far post and Laikyn Koss was there to collect the rebound and knock it home for the goal at the 49:52 mark to give CSU-Pueblo the 1-0 lead.
FLC then started to take control of the game, turning the field with Addie DiMarco just missing on a header attempt and a shot from just outside the box by Megan Trent off a corner kick was saved.
Johnson almost tied the game with a shot off a free kick, but was turned away in the 65th minute. Following a pair of corner kicks, Diana Sifuentes just sent a shot high in the 70th minute. Down to the final few minutes of the game, Johnson let go another shot that just went high and after a shot by Courtney Wamboldt was blocked, Patron's header shot just went wide leaving CSU-Pueblo with the 1-0 victory.
With the loss, Fort Lewis is now in trouble in terms of trying to make the RMAC Tournament. CSU-Pueblo moves into seventh in the standings with 17 points and drops Colorado Christian to eighth with 16 points. FLC currently has 13 points and even with a win Saturday and loss by Colorado Christian, the teams would tie and the Cougars hold the head-to-head tiebreaker from the win earlier this season. If somehow Colorado Christian, Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis tie with 16 points, the RMAC tiebreaker procedure goes into points gained by the teams against each other which would put Colorado Mesa in with four points (win over Colorado Christian and tie with Fort Lewis). Colorado Christian would have three (win over Fort Lewis) and then Fort Lewis with one.
Johnson led the way in shots with five, while Patron added four. Britt Blomso played all 90 minutes and recorded a season-high 10 saves.
Bean paced CSU-Pueblo with six shots, while Martin went all 90 minutes in goal and recorded seven saves to get the shutout.
FLC will now get ready for Senior Day this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against New Mexico Highlands. The three FLC seniors in Ma'ila Aluli, Kaylee Mickens and Renee Terrell will be honored before the game at approximately 1:20 p.m. New Mexico Highlands defeated Adams State 1-0 in overtime earlier on Thursday.
