No. 1 FLC to play No. 6 Le Moyne

by Aaron Unterreiner
Herald Sports Editor

Article Last Updated; Monday, November 23, 2009 1:01AM

One goal, one save, and No. 1 Fort Lewis College is playing for another national title.

Euan Purcell scored his 19th goal of the season, and Zane Wells won a battle of wits to rob a penalty kick from the reigning Division II player of the year.

One minute later, the All-American goalkeeper from Durango took away another goal on a Toros corner kick.

FLC, on the feet of Purcell and the hands of Wells, defeated No. 15 Cal State Dominguez Hills 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championships on Sunday afternoon at Dirks Field.

"It was a physical game," Skyhawks rookie head coach Oige Kennedy said. "That's last year's champ that we just played against. They've got six or seven seniors on their side that looked at this game as do or die. You could see that in how upset they were after the game.

"There's a bit of condolences for them, but hopefully we can go and win a championship now."

Next up: Le Moyne College, an independent liberal arts Jesuit institution in Syracuse, N.Y.

Le Moyne, the sixth-ranked side in the country, defeated No. 22 Southern New Hampshire 3-2 in shootouts Sunday in Syracuse.

The two teams played to a 1-all draw after 110 minutes of their quarterfinal.

FLC (22-1-0) will play Le Moyne (17-2-3) on Dec. 3 at the University of Tampa. Times of the national semifinals have not yet been released.

No. 9 Lees-McRae (18-2-1), which defeated No. 11 Tampa 1-0 in its quarterfinal, will play No. 20 Lewis (16-3-2) in the other half of the postseason draw.

Lewis defeated No. 14 Charleston 4-1 on Sunday.

The championship game will be played Dec. 5 in Tampa, Fla.

FLC withstood 18 fouls and five yellow cards from its opposition Sunday in front of a reported 1,511 fans. Thomas Hoang and Dimosthenis Kyrmanidis from FLC also were booked for yellows.

Purcell scored the game-winning goal in the 60th minute, his fourth winner this season.

Wells made a pair of game-changing saves in the 65th and 66th minutes, respectively, to earn his 20th win and 11th shutout this season.

Wells, a Durango High School alumnus, was named Super Region 2 MVP after the game. He was credited with six saves to earn his second clean sheet in three postseason games.

"Zane was huge for us," junior fullback Kyle Wood said. "That MVP was well-earned."

NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships While the FLC men dodged the bull Sunday at Dirks Field, the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros' female side advanced to the Final Four on Dec. 3-5 in Tampa, Fla., with a 5-2 victory against West Texas A&M on Sunday in La Jolla, Calif.

The top three teams in Division II women's soccer all reached the semifinals.

No. 1 West Florida (22-0-0) defeated Carson-Newman 2-1 in Jefferson City, Tenn.

No. 2 St. Rose (24-0-0) defeated California (Pa.) 1-0 in Loudonville, N.Y.

No. 3 Grand Valley State (20-0-4) defeated Colorado School of Mines 3-0 in Denver.

Colorado Mines ended Fort Lewis' postseason run with a 2-1 victory Nov. 14 at Dirks Field, the Skyhawks' second-ever national-tournament game and first-ever home playoff game.

The FLC women finished their season 18-3-3 overall, a program record.

St. Rose will play Grand Valley State on Dec. 3, and West Florida will play the upset-minded Toros in the other national semifinal.

While the other three semifinalists haven't lost a single game all season, Cal State Dominguez Hills is 16-8-2 and ranked 15th in the country.

aaron@durangoherald.com