Box Score

DURANGO, Colo. – Tesho Akindele and Chike Sullivan each scored two goals as No. 1 Colorado School of Mines defeated Fort Lewis College 4-2 in men's soccer to end FLC's 23-game winning streaks at home and in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

The Orediggers (8-0-1 overall, 6-0-1 RMAC) looked to have the game put away early, scoring three goals in the first 31:05 to take a commanding 3-0 lead.

Akindele netted his fourth of the year when he one-touched the ball past a Skyhawk defender and unleashed a blast from 20 yards out that beat starting FLC goalkeeper Nate Bell just inside the left post at 6:45.

Sullivan extended the lead to 2-0 when he drilled a 30-yard free kick past Bell at 31:05 for his third goal of the year.

A long pass from Baski Baker freed Sullivan for a short breakaway that he chipped over Bell at 31:05.

Then the defending NCAA Division II Skyhawks (5-4-0 overall, 4-1-0 RMAC) found life. Following a corner kick from the left side in the 43rd minute, Jamie Cunningham blasted a shot from eight yards out that was blocked by a Mines defender, but found its way to the foot of Fabian Kling, who punched it past Orediggers goalkeeper Manville Strand at 42:27 to trim the lead to 3-1. The goal was Kling's third of the year.

Fort Lewis switched goalkeepers at intermission, bringing in Clemson University transfer Kamran Khyltash for his second regular season appearance of the season.

The moved sparked FLC, which cut the lead to 3-2 at 54:54 on Joe Barnd's second marker of the season. Strand made consecutive saves on shots by Kyle Wood and Barnd, but the junior forward collected the second rebound and lifted it over Strand into the back of the net.

With Fort Lewis pressing to tie the game, thunderstorms moved in and lightning delayed the game for 44 minutes at 5:20 p.m. Play resumed at 6:04 p.m. with 14:29 remaining in regulation, but Fort Lewis couldn't level the score down the stretch, even though Kling, a defender, moved up to give FLC three strikers for much of the last 10 minutes of play. The best chance came off the foot of Byron Cephers, who scored a blast from the left side just outside the far post at 84:13.

Fort Lewis did have one last flurry, with a pair of corner kicks in the final two minutes and a shot by Thomas Hoang that was blocked by a Mines defender at 89:36. Phillip Wilson cleared the ball into the FLC end, where Akindele ran onto it and beat Khyltash with 12 seconds remaining in the game.

The Skyhawks actually outshot the Orediggers 20-13, but many of those shots were off-target and from longer distances. Shots-on-goal were much closer, with FLC enjoying a 7-6 advantage.

Strand made five saves for the Orediggers, while Bell had two saves for FLC. Khyltash was beaten by the only shot on goal he faced.

The loss ended four monumental streaks for the Skyhawks. It stopped a 23-game RMAC winning streak that dated back to a 1-1 tie at CSU-Pueblo on Oct. 17, 2008. FLC had been unbeaten in 36 straight RMAC games (33-0-3), dating back to a 2-0 home loss to Metro State on Oct. 14, 2007. FLC's home winning streak of 23 games (the last home game that didn't end in an FLC win was a 1-1 tie to Colorado Mines on Sept. 19, 2008) and home unbeaten streak of 26 straight games (25-0-1 during that stretch, which dated back to the 2-0 loss to Metro State in 2007).

Fort Lewis looks to start new streaks when it returns to the Dirks Field pitch at 1 p.m. Sunday when it hosts Colorado Christian (1-9-0 overall, 1-5-0 RMAC).