The CSM soccer complex was abuzz last Friday night as the Lady Orediggers hosted familiar foe Fort Lewis College in the Lady Skyhawks’ first-ever visit to the new Mines soccer field in Golden. The twenty-fifth-ranked Lady Orediggers were seeking to make a statement and climb higher in the RMAC standings against conference leader and ninth-ranked Fort Lewis. Mines earned a resounding 4-0 victory.
These two very talented teams played an excellent game, the lopsided score notwithstanding. Mines did not dominate the game, but their goals resulted from capitalizing on virtually every opportunity that the Skyhawks provided. The contest was a back-and-forth possession battle throughout and after a number of strong challenges on both goalkeepers early, Mines midfielder Dani Hering intercepted a deflection by the Skyhawk defense and launched a spectacular arcing chip shot from outside the penalty area and dropping the ball into the upper corner of the net in the twenty-third minute.
Mines soon struck again, as Anna Evans outran the Fort Lewis defense and gathered in a perfectly-played through ball from Megan Woodworth. Evans then juked out Skyhawk goalkeeper Amanda Raso in a close-range, one-on-one situation for an impressive goal. Suddenly, Mines had taken command of the game, but the onslaught was far from over. Following a Skyhawk foul deep in their own territory, Woodworth rocketed a 30-yard free kick directly into the far corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season. Suddenly down 3-0, the Skyhawks were reeling, and Mines managed to sneak another goal in just before halftime, as Aubrey Bagley knocked home a header from Kelsey Neal for Mines’ fourth goal of the night. Mines was now ahead on the heavily-favored Skyhawks 4-0, all in the first half.
The game settled down after halftime, as Fort Lewis regained their composure and denied Mines any more scoring opportunities for the remainder of the second half. Fort Lewis substituted in backup goalkeeper Amanda Snider. As the game progressed, the Skyhawks played more aggressively, desperately trying to break past the Mines defense. Mines held strong and Oredigger goalkeeper Penny Rogers made a number of excellent saves to preserve the shutout. Mines still applied offensive pressure, but the new Skyhawk keeper proved up to the challenge, saving a number of difficult shots and beating out the Mines strikers on a number of one-on-one breakaways.
In the end, Mines’ last barrage of shots was turned back, but the final whistle sounded, signifying a brilliant victory for the home side. With the win, Mines improves to 8-1-1 overall and 4-1-1 in conference play. After going 0-1-1 in heartbreaking fashion in their last two games, the stunning win Friday was was just what the doctor ordered for the Orediggers. Mines, who has never won the RMAC regular season championship, is now only six points behind the conference-leading Skyhawks. Mines continues its conference play October 12 at Colorado Christian University before returning home to play the University of Nebraska Kearney October 14 on senior night.
'Women’s soccer shuts out Ft. Lewis 4-0' has no comments
Be the first to comment this post!