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Fort Lewis ends Mines’ comeback bid in matchup of region’s top two teams
Phil Wilson of the Colorado School of Mines fouls Fort Lewis right back Kyle Wood from behind on Friday at the CSM Soccer Stadium in Golden. (photos by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
GOLDEN – With a two-goal lead and a one-man advantage on the pitch, what did the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team learn on Friday against the Colorado School of Mines?
“We can’t afford to let teams back in a game,” Skyhawks coach Oige Kennedy said.
The Skyhawks scored twice in the first 30 minutes of Friday’s match at the Colorado School of Mines Soccer Stadium. And in the 61st minute, when Mines forward Jeff Nelson got his second yellow card of the match, FLC seemed to have the match in hand against a Mines team with only 10 players left on the field.
But that’s when the Orediggers pulled together as a group. Mines refused to go into a defensive shell and was able to find some room on the field whenever the team would create a turnover. Goalkeeper Manville Strand said the Orediggers changed their formation toward the end of the game to compensate for the loss of Nelson. To create an attacking midfielder, the defense gave up its right back. “It was a little difficult, starting from that, but once we got used to it we got everything from the back going out and we did pretty well.”
Captain Ted Decker led a charge with a little more than 15 minutes to play. He threaded a pass up the middle, between two FLC defenders, to Alex Gunberg, who popped the ball into the upper left corner to cut Fort Lewis’ lead in half.
All of a sudden, a result that was forged with Tom Settle’s opening score in the ninth minute and Dave Barden’s goal in the 30th was in doubt.
“Playing down a man, we were looking even, more even than we did in the first half, when it was 11v11, so that’s good,” Mines coach Frank Kohlenstein said. “When your players do that and they respond well, that’s what it’s all about. We’re supposed to be doing things for their character, and when things get tough you’ve got to be able to overcome.”
But there’s a flip side to that coin, the Fort Lewis side. The Skyhawks viewed Gunberg’s goal as a challenge and responded quickly. About three minutes after the Mines goal, Byron Cephers crossed the ball from the right flank into the CSM penalty area, where Euan Purcell was waiting. Purcell drove the ball under Mines goalkeeper Manville Strand to recover the two-goal lead and take the wind out of the hosts’ sails.
That was the wake-up call we needed, when we conceded,” Kennedy said. “I felt that if we’d have had that same level of intensity throughout the second half, it could’ve been a different scoreline. … It was 2-0 and we could have gone on and made it four or five, but we let them back in it.
“Instead of really going and being cutthroat and putting it to them, we kind of took ourselves off a little bit, stepped off the gas and let ‘em back in the game. That can be costly in the future. But I think our guys learned their lesson. They’re a clever bunch of kids, and they’ll work it out.”
The match was a key one in the NCAA Division II Central Region. Fort Lewis, which is ranked sixth in all of Division II, leads the regional rankings, and Mines is second. The Orediggers are ranked 14th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
And because of the competitive nature of the match, tempers flared on occasion. In addition to Nelson’s two yellow cards, referee Chris Levesque issued four other yellow cards (and might have missed one or two others).
Mines suffered only its second loss of the season, falling to 10-2-3 overall and 6-2-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Fort Lewis improved to 12-1 overall, 9-0 in conference.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Strand was under pressure throughout the match and came up big repeatedly. Fort Lewis took 18 shots, and 10 were on frame. He stoned Settle on a free kick in the 26th minute then shut down Jamie Cunningham’s rebound shot. He stopped another Settle free kick two minutes later. He made a leaping save on a shot by FLC right back Kyle Wood in the 73rd minute. And h didn’t do it alone, either. Drew Werth blocked a shot just past the hour mark that looked like it might have gone off of his face. But Strand was under attack from all angles. If not for the freshman from Las Vegas, the game could’ve gotten out of hand. “It is a big loss, just like the last time we lost to them,” Strand said. “We’re pretty pissed off right now, and we’re going to come back. We put everything into this. You can’t blame it on the refs or blame it on the other team; it’s us. We’re just pissed off because they’re No. 1 and we’re No. 2.”
ATTENDANCE MATTERS: The official attendance was 261, a record for the brand-new Colorado School of Mines Soccer Stadium. The foothills setting is spectacular, perhaps better than any other in the state.
UP NEXT: Mines hosts Mesa at noon Sunday; Nelson will miss the match because of his ejection on Friday. Fort Lewis visits Colorado Christian at 3 p.m. Sunday.
FORT LEWIS STARTERS: Zane Wells, Kyle Wood, Sam Morris, Fabian Kling, Jamie Cunningham, Keane Hamilton, Dimo Krymanidis, Jeff Jennings, Tom Settle, Euan Purcell, David Barden.
MINES STARTERS: Manville Strand, Jeff Nelson, Trevor Braun, Jacob Juett, Ted Decker, Drew Werth, Masaki Hemmi, Chike Sullivan, Cale Haas, Phil Wilson, Zach Page-Belknap.
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an affiliate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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