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No. 8 Skyhawks escape with 1-0 win
Rangers defender Ryan Brennan dives to head the ball away from the pack on Friday at Regis University in Denver. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
DENVER — Before the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team took the field on Friday at the Regis Match Pitch, Coach Oige Kennedy could tell something wasn’t right. The casual observer would’ve seen a group of men shouting, “C’mon, boys!” and “Fort!” and “Let’s go!”
But what Kennedy saw made him nervous.
“Usually our guys are more intense. And I felt it in the warm-up; I could sense it before the game started,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been with this bunch for four years now, and I know what they’re like.”
Kennedy’s fears were warranted as the Rangers held Fort Lewis, ranked eighth nationally in Division II, scoreless in the first half. But the Skyhawks, after a talking-to at halftime, dominated play in the second half en route to a 1-0 victory in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
“So far in the conference we’ve won games 7 and 8 and 9 and 4-0. And when we find ourselves in a game, we have to come out and compete,” Kennedy said. “And I just felt in the first half the boys weren’t playing at 100 percent. They weren’t really giving it everything they could. I think in the second half we did better.”
Indeed. The Skyhawks had the upper hand in the first half. But after Kennedy got after them at the intermission, they dictated the terms of play in the second 45. Nearly the entire half was played in the Regis end of the field.
Sophomore Joe Barnd finally broke through in the 88th minute, cleaning up the garbage in front of the Regis goal after a corner kick.
“The ball just rolled to me, and I took my chance. It came off Euan. He tried to shoot it, and it trickled out to me, and I just shot it as fast as I could,” Barnd said. “We struggled a little today, but we got the result in the end.”
For a Fort Lewis team accustomed to winning, and winning big, a match against the Rangers might not have appeared to be much of a challenge. The Skyhawks entered the game at 9-1 overall, and the Rangers were 5-2-3. Take a look at the scores from Fort Lewis’ previous nine victories:
5-0
9-1
3-1
6-0
4-0
8-1
2-0
4-0
7-1
Regis coach Tony McCall said the scenario might have contributed to a lack of pregame focus for Fort Lewis.
“I think Fort Lewis is thinking that maybe they got out of here with one that could’ve gone either way. Coming in, being No. 8 in the nation, they maybe were a little bit complacent, maybe thought that all they had to do was turn up,” McCall said. “I think we gave them a hell of a game.”
And with a couple of breaks, Regis might’ve been able to give Fort Lewis its first RMAC loss this season. The Rangers had a great chance on a corner kick in the first half, with the ball being cleared off the line by the defense. But the heartbreaker for Regis came in the 62nd minute. Junior Nate Kafer threaded a centering pass from the right wing to sophomore Kyle Emge, who was all alone behind the Fort Lewis defense. All Emge needed to do was put his boot on the ball and direct it to the left or right of FLC goalkeeper Zane Wells. But Emge couldn’t connect, and the ball skipped harmlessly to the opposite sideline.
“I just misjudged it. The ball was coming in. I shouldn’t have let it bounce, and I waited for it to bounce. By then it was by me. I should’ve put that one away” Emge said. “Respect to them for pulling out a victory. We kept with it, and I felt that even though we came out with a loss, we still earned some respect today.”
McCall agreed.
“Fort Lewis probably deserved the win. But I think if we had had a little bit more composure in the final third, we had a few of the better chances, more clear-cut chances where we should’ve put them away,” he said. “What we earned today from them was a lot of respect.”
And as McCall finished his comments, one of the Fort Lewis College players heading toward the team bus let out a yelp.
“It shows you how happy they are to get out of here,” McCall said. “It was a fabulous game.”
MAN OF THE MATCH: Barnd.
RECORDS: Fort Lewis improved to 10-1 overall, 7-0 in the RMAC. Regis fell to 5-3-3, 3-1-3.
FORT LEWIS STARTERS: Zane Wells, Kyle Wood, Sam Morris, Fabian Kling, Jamie Cunningham, Keane Hamilton, Dimo Kyrmanidis, Jeff Jennings, Thomas Hoang, Euan Purcell, David Bardon.
REGIS STARTERS: Wally Fink, Nathan Kafer, Patrick Bonitatibus, Ryan Brennan, Lucas Mazier, Adam Hinkelman, Patrick Freeman, Alex Howieson, Gary Cole, James Copeland, Kyle Emge.
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