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'Hawks go for double
Herald Sports Editor
"I think he may have been given a one-game suspension, which he has probably already served, but I'm not real sure what happened there," said Kennedy, the first-year head coach for the second-ranked Fort Lewis College men's soccer program.
This is do-or-die time. It's like I told the boys, if we want to keep playing at Dirks Field, then we need to keep winning.
- Oige Kennedy, FLC men's soccer coach
"As far as we're concerned, it's over now." King pushed Purcell to the ground from behind during the Skyhawks' 1-0 victory Oct. 24 at Dirks Field on the FLC campus, then he stepped on the striker's head as he passed. Officials issued a yellow card on the play, then after further review from the league, appeared to have suspended the player for a game. (King did not play in the Roadrunners' regular-season finale.) Both teams reconvene in Durango today for the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, the semifinals.
Fort Lewis, the No. 1 seed as RMAC regular-season champion, will host No. 4 Regis at 2:30 p.m. today.
"Regis certainly is no pushover," Kennedy said.
Colorado Mines, the 2-seed, will play No. 3 Metro State at noon today in the other tournament semifinal.
The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday at Dirks Field, another rare shot for the Skyhawks to capture a double - regular-season and tournament championships.
"It's huge," Kennedy said. "This is do-or-die time. It's like I told the boys, if we want to keep playing at Dirks Field, then we need to keep winning." Fort Lewis is 17-1-0 overall and undefeated in the conference.
Regis finished the season 9-5-4 overall and 7-3-4 in the conference, including a pair of narrow losses to the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis defeated Regis 1-0 on Oct. 9 in Denver and 3-1 on Oct. 25 in Durango.
Joe Barnd, a sophomore from Fairfax, Va., had five points in the two victories - two goals and one assist. The reserve forward, who missed the first seven games of the season, likely will start today's game in place of Purcell if the conference's leading scorer isn't cleared to play this morning.
"He's been huge ever since he came back," Kennedy said. "We're lucky to have such a quality player come off the bench." Purcell, who will be reevaluated today, leads the RMAC with 17 goals and 37 points, totals which are good for third and fourth in the nation, respectively.
Purcell lost out, however, on RMAC Player of the Year honors Thursday when the award was given to Metro's Steven Emory, who finished the regular season with 10 goals, seven assists and 27 points. Purcell wasn't even a unanimous selection for the first team.
Tom Settle, who led the Division II ranks with 14 assists, joined Emory as the coaches' only other unanimous selection to the postseason team.
Zane Wells, Jeff Jennings and David Barden also were named to the first team. Wells was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Wells and defenseman Fabian Kling are questionable for today's game - "just wear and tear, general end-of-season stuff," Kennedy said.
Jennings is suspended for today's game.
"We're good," Kennedy said. "We've got a couple of injuries, a couple of suspensions, so we'll be short a few bodies." But not short on motivation.
The leading offense in the nation - 4.61 goals per game - and third-best defense - .44 goals against average - garnered just six postseason All-RMAC selections, with noticeable omissions such as defensemen Kling, Jamie Cunningham and Kyle Wood.
Kennedy, in his first season as a head coach, has guided the perennially tough FLC program to the No. 2 national ranking, a .944 winning percentage and a perfect 14-0 mark in the conference. His side leads the RMAC in most every statistical category.
Frank Kohlenstein of Colorado Mines was named RMAC Coach of the Year.
"I'm a new head coach just learning the system. It is what it is," said Kennedy, who then proceeded to rattle off a litany of Skyhawks and their conference- and nation-leading exploits.
"I'm sure the players are looking at that for some motivation," he said.
aaron@durangoherald.com
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