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Fort Lewis College women's soccer team microwaves UCCS
Women's soccer team reaches RMAC tourney semifinals
Herald Sports Writer
Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald
FLC freshman forward Elena Benavides stops on a dime during the Skyhawks’ 3-0 win in the RMAC first-round match. Fort Lewis will play Colorado School of Mines on Friday in Denver in the RMAC semifinals.
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Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald
Fort Lewis College freshman Ashley Kniffin battles for possession against University of Colorado at Colorado Springs defender Ashley Hooper.
But for the No. 13 Fort Lewis College women's soccer team, it was all it needed to secure a place in the semifinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, racking up three goals in the time it takes you to brush your teeth.
"We were hoping we could come out and put this game away a little bit earlier than we did in the last game," FLC head coach Damian Clarke said. "It's a good team, but I really felt like we were good enough to get the game in hand." The No. 3 seeds in the RMAC did just that in Minutes 30-33, getting goals from Hayley Hollenga, Samantha Smith and Torrey Larson to send the No. 6-seeded University of Colorado at Colorado Springs home for reflection with a 3-0 win Wednesday afternoon at Dirks Field.
FLC (16-2-2 overall, 12-2-2 RMAC in the regular season) now awaits a visit to Metro State on Friday for a potentially season-defining semifinal against No. 2 Colorado School of Mines.
Still, the Skyhawks looked very little like a threat to the Mountain Lions' goal until Hollenga took a through ball from freshman Ashley Kniffen and finished one touch, low and right, for the sophomore's seventh goal of the season in the 30th minute. As one fan said, there was blood in the water.
"Sometimes a game like that opens up because they're comfortable with the fact that they're keeping things in our half," Clarke said. "It opened up because we got them facing the wrong direction, and there was space behind for us to play in." FLC scored just more than a minute later when Smith unleashed another one-timer, this one off a bouncing service from senior right back Jessica Otero that the senior midfielder volleyed low to the far left post.
Freshman super-sub Larson, whose entrance nearly exactly coincided with the scoring outburst, then wrote her name in RMAC Tournament scoring lore with a strike in the 34th minute, beating keeper Kayla Millar to a rebound off a shot from senior Jamie MacArthur and scoring easily.
"Play Torrey in the last 20 minutes of any half, and there's a good chance you're going to get something out of it," Clarke said.
"Our forwards are coming into stride at the right time," he said. "The last couple of games, it's been forwards doing the damage. This is exactly what we wanted." Fort Lewis outshot the Mountain Lions 14-5, with Christine Schmelzle making the Skyhawks' only save before Kelcie Woodson relieved her for 30 minutes of boredom at the defensive end.
"The bottom line is, the back four was just tremendous," Clarke said. "They were unbelievable in terms of the way they pressured and covered. They did the things we were hoping that they would improve upon." Anchoring that effort was newly named RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, Nichole Kluk, who orchestrated FLC's superior on-field tactics.
"That's what Nichole does, she organizes eight players in front of her," Clarke said. "She's the best at it, obviously." The all-important semifinal comes 2:30 on Friday at Auraria Field against Mines, who jumped to No. 3 in the Regional rankings over FLC despite no losses from either side.
"Friday's game is going to determine what team should be ranked above the other," Clarke said. "Both teams are obviously very good." Not only are the RMAC implications significant, the Regional host might be determined by the winner of that game.
"We're just looking forward to it," Kluk said. "It's going to be a battle, and it's going to be fun, and we're ready for them." FLC's semifinal will be preceded by Regis at Metro State at noon.
The No. 4 team in the country, Metro State is the only team to beat the Skyhawks this season, 1-0 on Oct. 11 at Dirks Field and 3-2 in Denver on Sept. 18.
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