COLORADO SPRINGS - Paul Sanchez had a goal and an assist for the No. 3-ranked Fort Lewis Skyhawks as they defeated the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 5-0 Sunday afternoon at Mountain Lion Stadium.

"A big thing for us today is we came out extremely flat," said UCCS coach Henry Ellis. "You do that against a No. 3 team in the nation, you're never going to be able to recover from it."

The Skyhawks struck early in the first half with a goal by Keane Hamilton off of crossing pass by Byron Cephers just 2:09 into the match.

Sanchez got his goal with 26:53 remaining in the first half by way of a pass from Tom Settle to make it 2-0.

Less than two minutes later, Sanchez got his assist when he sent a ball to Euan Purcell who broke away and got the goal.

"It was a battle out there," said Bettner. "They came out strong."

With 4:13 remaining in the first half after a UCCS (4-9-2, 2-5-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) foul, the Skyhawks' (11-1-3, 7-0-3 RMAC) Sam Morris free kicked it to Jamie Cunningham to close it out 4-0.

"We've got to play hard the entire 90 minutes," said Senior Jeff Bettner. "We played hard for a while, but they slipped through a couple times."

The Mountain Lions tightened up in the second half, allowing the final goal with 1:40 remaining in the game by Joseph Brandt from a crossing pass by Thomas Hoang to end the game 5-0.

"The second half, it was a different team," said Ellis, "but you're not going to battle against the No. 3 team in the nation like that."

Sean Miller (0-2) had five save for the Mountain Lions. Zane Wells (10-1-3) had four saves to earn the win.

"The guys played tough," said Bettner, "and hopefully it will get us ready for Regis on Friday."