GUNNISON, Colo.  Searching for a win Wednesday that could put them in a position to earn a spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference postseason soccer playoffs, the Mountaineers had to settle for a 0-0 draw against visiting Fort Lewis College that ends the Western Colorado season.

Holding the fourth-seeded team in the regular season standings scoreless was a feat in itself, but Western needed to scratch out the win and for the fourth consecutive year ends up ninth – one spot shy of the playoffs – in the final regular season standings.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western ties Fort Lewis, 0-0
Records: Western 2-12-5 overall (2-5-5 RMAC), Fort Lewis 10-4-3 (7-2-2)
Location: Katy O. Rady Field, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Fort Lewis was the aggressor early on, rapping out the first five shots in the opening 13 minutes of the game. But only one of those was on frame and goalkeeper Ashly Fitzpatrick turned that shot away.
• From the 18th to the 33rd minute it continued to be the Skyhawks with the attacking pressure, accumulating eight consecutive shots with Fitzpatrick making two saves, defenders blocking three shots, and one FLC shot bouncing off the right post.
• A Skyhawk foul in the 36th in its defensive third gave Western its first real chance of the game. Karly Morkunas lined up the free kick from 30 yards out and cleared the FLC wall with a shot on target but saved by a leaping Trinity Lujan to keep the game scoreless.
• By the halftime break, FLC would pile up 14 shots to the Mountaineers' 2, but the discrepancy between the totals wouldn't matter as the scoreboard still showed all zeroes.
• Fort Lewis came out fast in the second half, racking up the first eight shots with Fitzpatrick needing to stop half of those to maintain blanks on the scoreboard.
• Western finally began finding gaps in the FLC defense, though, beginning with a shot by Lauren Kindt in the 69th. She dribbled into the top left corner of the penalty box and struck a laser shot toward the right post, but Lujan dove and managed to get her gloves on the shot to deflect it just wide of the right post.
• Caitlin Mazurek had a chance to break the tie in the 78th but Lujan stopped that one, followed four minutes later by a Cianna Thomas shot from within the box that was blocked but deflected to Jordan Welsh whose immediate shot skimmed the top of the crossbar.
• Western earned the final two shots of the game, with Sarah Connolly poking one just high in the 88th and with 47 seconds remaining in the game, Natsuki Murakami getting a free kick from 35 yards out over the defensive wall only to have an FLC defender race across behind the wall to deflect it away.

TURF NOTES

• The Skyhawks would finish with 31 shots in the game, only 10 making it on frame, while Western totaled 8 shots with 3 on goal.
• The scoreless draw was FLC's ninth consecutive game without surrendering a goal.
• Fitzpatrick finished with 10 saves to increase her single-season high to 76 for the year. The shutout was the first of her career.
• Murakami closed out the season as the team's scoring leader with eight points from four goals, with Connolly (1G, 3A) and Welsh (2G, 1A) just behind with seven points apiece.

THEY SAID IT