Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

0
St. Mary's (TX) SMU (1-1-1, 0-0-0)
1
Winner Fort Lewis FLC (2-0-1, 0-0-0)
St. Mary's (TX) SMU
(1-1-1, 0-0-0)
0
Final
1
Fort Lewis FLC
(2-0-1, 0-0-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
St. Mary's (TX) SMU 0 0 0
Fort Lewis FLC 0 1 1
Gabriel Legendre vs. St. Mary's
Kaitlyn Silva
Gabriel Legendre (8) drives to the penalty box before striking for the game-winner against St. Mary's on Dirks Field (Sep. 11, 2024)

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Hayden Mangan, Assistant AD-Communications & Fan Engagement

Legendre’s late magic pushes No. 15 Fort Lewis past St. Mary’s

Skyhawks remain 4-0-0 over Rattlers on Dirks Field

DURANGO, Colo. – In a physical battle that pushed both squads to the limit, it was the fifth-year senior Gabriel Legendre making his final season-opening start on Dirks Field, who used a beautiful touch on a cross-field pass to drive just outside of the penalty box and net the game-winning goal in the 80th minute to seal a 1-0 victory for No. 15-ranked Fort Lewis over St. Mary's under the lights.
 
The Skyhawks climb to 2-0-1 to start the season while the Rattlers drop to 1-1-1 on the year including a 1-1 draw against Colorado Mesa (0-0-1) up on Dirks Field last Monday.
 
"I thought we were a little slow out of the gate and we knew they were going to bring a lot of energy, which they did, and they did a good job putting us under pressure and creating turnovers in bad areas," Fort Lewis College Head Coach David Oberholtzer commented. "I thought we were fortunate to head into the half still tied. But we've talked as a group about how even when maybe things aren't going exactly your way, you still have to find a way to win and grind things out, and we did that."  
 
Despite the comforts of its home pitch, the Skyhawks came out of the gate chasing the Rattlers' tails. While it was an even two shots on goal for each team through the first half, St. Mary's held the drastic advantage with 10 total shots to Fort Lewis' three and three corners to FLC's one.
 
Lucas Martin, aided by his back-line-anchors Jakob Larson and Kaden Schufft, made a pair of saves to keep the Rattlers scoreless despite Fort Lewis being forced into its own defensive half for over 25 minutes.
 
Out of the half, Fort Lewis looked like an entirely new and began to force St. Mary's back into its own defensive half even though the Rattlers still won the possession time for the match.
 
In the 80th minute, shortly after St. Mary's made a throw-in within the Skyhawks defensive half, Tomas Duenes intercepted a through-ball and instead flipped the field to the far side leaving Legendre one-on-one. Legendre won the foot race with his defender and despite a second Rattler closing in to add pressure, Legendre rifled an arcing shot off the six-yard box and into the back right corner past a diving Johnny Thurbin for the game-winner. Thurbin closed the match with four saves.
 
"We kept the shutout, and I thought we defended well. Jake, Kaden, and Lucas in goal were really strong, and what a great individual goal from Gabe to get the winner. I'm just super proud of the guys for finding a way to win."
 
Martin earned his second clean sheet of the season and the fifth of his career leaving the sophomore from Middlesbrough, England, one shutout shy of the Skyhawks top ten all-time career shutouts list. Duenes earned his second assist of the season and the 19th of his career.  
 
Notables
-Fort Lewis advances to 6-1-2 all-time over St. Mary's, snaps the two squads' two-game tying streak, and remains a perfect 4-0-0 against the Rattlers on Dirks Field.
-Gabriel Legendre notched his first goal of the season and the 27th of his career. Legendre now stands one goal shy of matching Fabian Kling (2008-11) and Curt Slaughter (1998-01) for the eighth-most goals in program history.
-Lucas Martin recorded his second clean sheet and the fifth of his career. The sophomore is now one shutout shy of tying Devin Zimmerman (2000-01) for the tenth-most all-time.
-Tomas Duenes made his 19th career assist and resides one shy of matching Cole Sweetser (2002-05) for the tenth-most in program history.
-The Skyhawks pick up their first home-opener victory since downing Adams State 6-0 back on Aug. 30, 2022.
 
A Texas Throwdown
Fort Lewis is back on the road this weekend and headed down to Canyon, Texas, for a non-conference rematch with the Buffaloes from West Texas A&M at The Pitch. The Skyhawks and Buffs will face off at noon Mountain Standard Time. Fans wanting to watch the game live will need to purchase a monthly subscription from FloSports.
 
Print Friendly Version

Scoring Summary

Scoring Summary
Scoring Team Scoring Play
80:02
FLC Gabriel Legendre (1)
Assisted By: Tomas Duenes Gonzalez
Service across the field, one-touch, sprint to the 18-yard box, right foot strike to the back right corner.

Related Headlines