The Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team has a lot of new pieces heading into the 2019 season, but it was hard to tell based off of Saturday’s 3-1 win against the FLC men’s alumnus team at Dirks Field.
With 15 new players on the roster, the Skyhawks have found a way to gel early with preseason tests. FLC faced New Mexico United of the United Soccer League in a 3-1 loss Tuesday but bounced back in a 4-0 thumping of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rival Adams State University on Thursday.
FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said after three games in the last six days that he believes getting his players fresh will be the key to a season-opening win against Cal State East Bay at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Salt Lake City.
“Coming into this, obviously, it’s always a fun game just being able to see a lot of these guys come back,” Oberholtzer said of the alumnus game. “We know we put our guys under a lot of stress during the last two weeks trying to push and prepare them, and I think you could definitely see some of that in some mental lapses in the first half. We talked about a couple of things in the first half, and the guys really dug deep and focused, and it was a much better team performance in the second half. We put in a ton of work, and now it’s about getting fresh and then really focus on Friday.”
Oberholtzer said the team was still missing a few players that will be in the starting 11 because of injuries, but he has been pleased with the new additions as well as his returning players.
“The group has really come together just in terms of their relationships with one another and how quickly they’ve gelled and gotten that chemistry going,” the fourth-year head coach said.
On Saturday, Ryan Lee opened the scoring in the 11th minute after he received a through ball from Hakeem Rabiu and was able to dribble around goalkeeper Nick Clark and put it into the top right corner of the net to give the Skyhawks an early 1-0 lead.
The Skyhawks’ offense struck once again just before the halftime whistle, as Zachary Lemasters received a pass, went down the right flank, cut inside and fired a shot above Clark’s outstretched arms to make it 2-0.
In the second half, Lee stole a pass and sprinted past former teammate Coleman Kane and coolly slotted a shot home to make it 3-0. The alums pulled one back off of a penalty kick two minutes later.
With seniors Ty Lang and captain Marshall Metzger anchoring the back line, two players have stepped up to fill in spots, as sophomore transfer Denis Celik and freshman Milen Manchev have clicked with the upperclassmen so far. In addition, freshman Kanon Tebo got a heavy dosage of playing time Saturday and used his pace and strength to his advantage. Metzger believes the new-look defense will be bolstered with fresh faces.
“I think we’re a pretty good back line,” Metzger said, “We’ve had some things to iron out, and you could see that against New Mexico United, and they’re the type of team that punishes you for any type of small mistake, and maybe you wouldn’t get punished for playing in the RMAC or otherwise, but playing that high quality of a team kind of exposed us for the better. We are young, but our chemistry already has built us closer, but we hall have each others backs. Plus, we’re returning Peter Byrne, and there’s no one I’d want to have behind me in net. He makes sure we’re all on the same page, and we’re all happy to have him back.”
Byrne will make his return from an injury that sidelined him all of last season after a sensational freshman campaign a year earlier. The goalkeeper from Montana will be a big addition to this year’s team.
“Sitting out with an injury, it really makes you realize just how much you want to play,” Byrne said. “It was really good just to be out playing with the boys again. These last two weeks have been good, we’ve been working hard and we’ll be fresh going into Friday.”
bploen@durangoherald.com
