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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Peter Byrne 10.31
Angela Roberts, FLC Athletic Communications
3
Winner Fort Lewis FLC (8-7-1, 5-4-0)
0
South Dakota Mines SDSMT (1-14-1, 0-9-0)
Winner
Fort Lewis FLC
(8-7-1, 5-4-0)
3
Final
0
South Dakota Mines SDSMT
(1-14-1, 0-9-0)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Fort Lewis FLC 1 2 3
South Dakota Mines SDSMT 0 0 0

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Skyhawks roll to 3-0 road win over South Dakota Mines to conclude 2021 season

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Fort Lewis College men's soccer team did what it needed to do Sunday, rolling to a 3-0 road win over South Dakota Mines to put itself in position to make the RMAC Tournament for a third straight season.

Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they did not get the help they needed Sunday to punch that playoff ticket as MSU Denver rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 4-3 over UCCS. The Roadrunners' win, coupled with a 4-1 win by Regis over Adams State, combined to push FLC outside the top-6 six qualifying spots for the RMAC Tournament.

Fort Lewis (8-8-1 overall, 5-5 RMAC) finishes the year with 15 conference points and in a tie for 6th place in the RMAC standings with Regis (9-7-1 overall, 5-5 RMAC). The Rangers won the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot due to a 2-1 victory Friday against FLC.

"I thought we played well (Sunday), created 24 shots and 17 shots on goal, while putting three goals on the scoreboard. It was a good team performance from the group," said FLC head men's soccer coach, David Oberholtzer. "But, unfortunately, we did not do enough during the conference portion of the season to keep (playoff fate) in our hands."

The Skyhawks dominated play Sunday against the Hardrockers (1-15-1 overall, 0-10 RMAC) as the 17 shots on goal were a season high for FLC and the 24 total shots were the second most for the team this fall; one shy of the 25 shots taken Friday at Regis.

FLC freshman left back Maximilian Meier got the scoring started in the 11th minute with his first career. And it would be two fell freshmen who would also find the scoresheet Sunday for the Skyhawks as Gabriel Legendre and Tomas Duenes each netted late insurance goals — less than two minutes apart — at the 84:56 and 86:50 marks, respectively.

Duenes picked up an assist as part of his three-point afternoon on the goal by Legendre, while senior Kacey Owensby picked up his first point of the season with an assist on the Duenes score. Legendre and Duenes finish their breakout 2021 seasons tied for the team lead in goals scored with seven apiece.

That freshman trio that scored Sunday are just three of 16 underclassmen who saw consistent minutes for the Skyhawks this fall and are expected back in the fold for 2022.

"We had a lot of underclassmen playing significant roles and significant minutes this year with a strong impact," Oberholtzer said. "There are certainly a lot of positives for us to look forward to."

On the flip side, Fort Lewis will have the tough task of saying goodbye to a seven-man senior class — Peter Byrne, Denis Celik, Brantley Bice, Alejandro Arribas, AJ Haskell, Riley Shea and Owensby — that were integral pieces for the Skyhawks in three runs to the RMAC Tournament semi-finals in the past five seasons.

Byrne, who started all 65 games of his career in net for FLC, recorded six saves and his fourth shutout of the season in his last game in a Skyhawks' uniform. He will graduate from Fort Lewis ranked fourth in games played (65), saves (294) and shutouts (21), while being tied for fourth in wins (32) in program history.

"This is really a fantastic group of guys and I have appreciated everything they have put into the program during their time here," said Oberholtzer of his senior class. "We're sorry to see them go and are going to miss having them here. But we certainly wish them nothing but the best as they move on."
 
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