Close but not close enough.
The Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) men’s soccer team suffered a devastating 1-0 loss to the Fort Lewis Skyhawks and their season is now over.
This was the first match of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament and would turn out to be the Mavericks’ only match in this win or go home situation.
“Fort Lewis has an incredible history of being a competitive program. Loic [Jean-Baptiste] for me, is the best individual attacking player in the conference, so I mean we’ve circled his number with a big red circle every time we’ve played them” CMU Head Coach Andrew Conniff said.
Jean-Baptiste was the Skyhawk to score the lone goal in the 29th minute when the redshirt sophomore got the ball past CMU Goalkeeper Brendan Brown.
This is the Mavericks third time seeing Fort Lewis so far this season, and for the third consecutive time, they’ve come out winless.
Throughout the first half, CMU’s defense was looking to make a statement. They were playing tough, tight, defense as well as showing signs of good communication; something they’ve struggled with in the past.
Regardless of these defensive efforts made on the Mavericks end, FLC’s aggressive offense would prove to be too much to handle.
The goal by Jean-Baptiste came before the half and it left the crowd at Walker Field speechless.
“I felt like they just (had) more desire to win and even though we played good as well they just had one chance to score and they finished it,” Forward Lawan Abary said. “We had many chances and we just couldn’t finish.”
Going into halftime, the Mavericks were still down 1-0 but led with seven total shots compared to the Skyhawks six.
CMU recorded a total of 24 shots on the day.
The second, CMU’s offense is kicked into overdrive. The Mavericks continued their offensive pressure while also holding possession notably well. Regardless, CMU was unable to answer for Fort Lewis’ early goal.
There were tons of missed opportunities for the Mavericks that could have changed the course of the match completely. With seven total shots on goal, one would think the CMU was bound to catch a break; this was not the case.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t go in and I think that’s how soccer goes sometimes. Small goal, big field.” Andrew Conniff said.
The match ended and the Mavericks’ playoff hopes and aspirations were crushed.
“Were just incredibly proud of the group,” Conniff said. “It’s hard to find negatives from what we did today because looking at the final stat line, looking at the performance and the work rate and the commitment to getting things right, tossing numbers forward and still being able to defend. Really happy about how the group played”
Senior Lawan Abary led the Mavericks with a total of five goals on the season followed closely by freshman Alec Fronapfel with four.
Junior Ramses Atahualpa led the team in assists with a count of five as well as contributing one goal himself.
Last but not least, Goalkeeper Brendan Brown finished the year with a grand total of 58 saves on the season while only allowing 11 goals in 18 games.
