GOLDEN, Colo. — Artur Piperkov and Johannes Sander scored their first collegiate goals as No. 2 Fort Lewis (9-0-0 overall, 5-0-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) defeated No. 20 Colorado Mines 4-1 tonight at the CSM Soccer Field.

“The guys played really well,” said third-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy. “It was an awesome crowd … it felt like a home crowd with all of the alumni and our football team in attendance.”

Piperkov gave the FLC Hooligans something to cheer about early when he took a pass from Thomas Hoang and beat CSM goalkeeper Manville Strand from 15 yards out to put the Fort on top 1-0 exactly 10 minutes into the contest.

Despite FLC maintaining a huge possession advantage for most of the first half, the Orediggers leveled the score at 30:59 when Alex Nass beat Skyhawk goalkeeper Ryan Wirth on a free kick from 35 yards out on the left side.

“We probably 70/30 possession in the first half,” said Kennedy. “In the second half, we really dominated against a very good side.”

Sander, a redshirt freshman defender, headed a ball past Strand at 64:18 for his first collegiate marker and the eventual game-winner. The score came off a set piece, as Joey Madigan’s corner kick found Sander’s head.

Hoang scored his third goal of the season after finishing a give-and-go from Cory Dean inside the box.

Jordan Alexander capped the second half offensive explosion with what Kennedy called the prettiest goal of the season at 86:42. After controlling a pass from Alberto Capdepon-Rodriguez and with Strand charging toward him, he flicked the ball bicycle-kick style with the side of his foot and his back to the goal over Strand and into the net. The score was Alexander’s fourth of the 2011 campaign.

Fort Lewis outshot the Orediggers 15-9 overall, 5-3 in shots on target. Wirth made a pair of saves to improve his record to 9-0-0 this season. Strand made one save for CSM.

The Skyhawks continue their Denver area trek at 1 p.m. Sunday when they face Colorado Christian (0-9-1, 0-6-0) in Lakewood.

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