SEATTLE -- Saturday was a very, very long day for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs soccer team. First, there was the looming specter of a long drive to Portland after the match to catch a flight home. Next, miscommunication caused a delay in the start of the match.
But worst was the embarrassing 7-1 thrashing the Mountain Lions suffered at the hands of the Seattle Pacific Falcons behind a hat trick by Jeff Hallenbeck and two goals by Alec Nelson.
James Coggan added three assists for Seattle Pacific (5-2-5).
Jeff Bettner provided the lone highlight for the Mountain Lions. With Seattle Pacific leading by seven in the 65th minute, Bettner smartly stepped in front of and intercepted a lazy pass. The junior juked the lone remaining Falcon defender and drilled a hard shot past goalkeeper Ben Lovelace.
UCCS is now 2-10 on the season.
The original start time was 2 p.m., but UCCS' scheduled flight home was cancelled, forcing the Mountain Lions to fly back home on a flight from Portland about three hours to the south. As a result, the match was moved to noon. Unfortunately, the referees didn't get the memo and two finally showed up at 12:30.
The match got underway at 12:40 with UCCS assistant athletic director A.J. Joseph serving as a linesman for the first 10 minutes. In this blowout, that was long enough for the Falcons to build a 3-0 advantage.
Seattle Pacific struck quickly. Jono Heness made a quick throw in to James Coggan deep in the UCCS zone. Coggan flicked the ball back to the top of the penalty area where Hallenbeck was waiting to blast the ball past UCCS goalkeeper
Mark Howard (1-5).
The Falcons scored again less than two minutes later. Goalkeeper Kellen Rosten cleared a ball deep that Coggan flicked forward. Nelson received the ball and got a step on Tristen Robinson, the Mountain Lions' last line of defense. Nelson sent a hard shot into the lower right side of the net.
The third score came at the 13:59 mark. Brendan Cloyd dribbled deep into the UCCS end and slid a crossing pass that Hallenbeck converted.
The rout extended to 4-0 in the 23rd minute when a crossing pass pinballed off several players in from of the UCCS goal. Nelson was the first to get a solid foot on it and knocked it past Howard.
Howard was pulled in favor of
Adam Liszewski but the results were more of the same. Just 1:54 after Liszewski entered the game, the Falcons were awarded a free kick just outside of the penalty area. Hallenback completed his hat trick with a slicing shot over the defensive wall and into the near side of the net.
In the 51st minute, Matt Kemper took an accurate through pass from Hallenbeck and slid it in for goal No. 6.
The seventh score came off a UCCS turnover in the 62nd minute. Doug Whitney collected the miscue and sent a lateral pass to Corey Sinser for the score.
The Mountain Lions are now 0-10 in nonconference road matches since 2003.
