Sports

MEN'S SOCCER

Roadrunners lose 0-3 to nation's No. 14 ranked team

The wet grass made passes difficult and many cross-field balls skipped harmlessly out-of-bounds. The field conditions favored Fort Lewis and their star forward John Cunliffe of Edgworth, England. He made pinpoint passes in contributing one goal and two assists.

While the first half was a scoreless defensive stand, the second turned out to be mostly offensive. Metro immediately pressed the ball into the Fort Lewis backfield and a few near misses turned out to be the difference in the ballgame.

It became apparent that the team with the first goal would likely be the victor. Unfortunately, that goal went to Fort Lewis. Cunliffe took a direct free kick about 30 yards out. He lofted it slowly over the players and the ball sailed gently into the corner of the net.

Metro became visibly disheartened after the first goal, and for a short time looked like a group of individuals rather than a team.They no longer attempted to pass the ball; each team member tried to win it alone. Fort Lewis' defense denied Metro every opportunity and their offense was able to score insurance goals.

"I really felt whoever scored the first goal was going to win the game," said Fort Lewis head coach Jeremy Gunn. "Once we got that goal, it just gave us a little bit more of an opening to go at them."