Skyhawks men’s soccer holds on to beat Westminster at home

It wasn’t pretty, or a complete 90 minutes of play, but the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team did enough to stay unbeaten in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with its 2-1 home win over Westminster on Friday night.

FLC looked ready to run away with a dominant win in the first half. The Skyhawks dominated possession, had moments of brilliance in the midfield, and junior Raul Baptista Filipe created two goals for a comfortable lead.

But the Skyhawks were anything but comfortable in the second half. Westminster dominated possession and put pressure on the Skyhawks’ back line for nearly the entire second half. The Griffins had a 13-2 shots advantage in the second half and a set piece goal put the Griffins right back in the game.

Defense was the issue last season for FLC, and the Skyhawks have struggled with penalties recently with an inexperienced back line. It happened again on Friday night with a hand ball inside the 18-yard box in the second half. Senior goalkeeper Lucas Martin saved the day with the penalty-kick save, and the Skyhawks hung on in the final minutes to take the three points.

“The first half was really good,” FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said. “It was an enjoyable half … We weren’t threatened much at all. The second half was a little bit of a different story. Westminster did a good job of adjusting and making us a little bit more uncomfortable … Lucas, I’m really proud of him for not just stepping up in that moment, but when he’s been called upon this year, he’s been really good. I’m really happy for him.”

FLC improved to 6-2-2 overall and 3-0-0 in the RMAC with the win, while Westminster dropped to 2-5-4 overall and 0-4-1 in the RMAC with the loss. Junior William Bretvik and sophomore Francisco Pinto each scored for the Skyhawks. Baptista Filipe finished with two assists, and Martin finished with five saves.

The Skyhawks had a great start to the match, controlling the game and only allowing one Westminster shot in the first 20 minutes. FLC’s strong start paid off with the first goal. The Skyhawks combined on the left side, with Baptista Filipe feeding Bretvik in the middle of the field, and Bretvik placed his shot into the lower right corner of the goal for the 1-0 lead with 31 minutes left in the half.

FLC had some great runs down both sides in the middle of the first half, but couldn’t get another good shot on goal. The Skyhawks had some great combinations in the middle of the field that made the crowd ooh and aah. Westminster had some possession, but FLC did a great job of executing clean tackles after problems with fouls and penalty kicks in previous games.

Those beautiful combinations paid off with FLC’s second goal. Baptista Filipe got the ball right on the goal on the end line and played a fantastic pass with his back heel to Pinto, who had time and space to slot the ball into the lower left corner for the 2-0 lead with 15 minutes left in the half.

“We’ve been trying to encourage him,” Oberholtzer said about Baptista Filipe. “We know he has the quality going forward and the ability to score as well as assist … Him and Francisco, they both have the same brain, and they can read each other’s minds at times. It’s really fun to watch them connect and play together.”

Westminster nearly scored three times in the last five minutes of the half. A cheeky short through ball led to a shot from the right side that nearly missed the far post. The Griffins then caught the Skyhawk defense napping with quick transition play, leading to a contested shot inside the 18-yard box. Martin had to clear away a bad pass back to him as FLC took its 2-0 lead into halftime.

The Griffins controlled most of the possession in the first 10 minutes, but didn’t challenge Martin with any difficult saves. The Skyhawks struggled to clear the ball, making their defense work for a long stretch without rest. FLC wasn’t combining as well as it was in the first half and struggled to get shots in the attacking third.

Westminster kept the pressure up with more possession, and it led to a goal. The Griffins had a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box after a questionable foul call. The ball was played to the far post and kicked in from close range to cut FLC’s lead to 2-1 with 19 minutes left.

The Skyhawks were very sloppy in the middle of the second half. They couldn’t retain possession, and when they did win the ball deep in their own half, they played kick ball and made sophomore forward Simão Agostinho run after it.

Westminster got behind the Skyhawks’ defense again, had a two-on-one and a clear was made off the line by an FLC defender, but after much deliberation, there was a handball and a penalty kick. Martin didn’t let the long wait stop him from guessing right and making the stop.

“If you took away all the penalties, we’d only have conceded four or five goals on the year,” Oberholtzer said. “I’m sure there were some things leading up to it that put us in an uncomfortable spot to begin with. There are some things we can do to protect ourselves a little bit better.”

FLC milked the clock as best as it could in the final 10 minutes, leading to some aggressive challenges from Westminster and shoving between the two sides. But FLC didn’t blow it and rejoiced after the final buzzer.

The Skyhawks stay at home to play Colorado Mesa on Sunday at 1 p.m. The teams tied 1-1 in Grand Junction earlier in the season.