LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (0-0) at
NO. 6 FORT LEWIS COLLEGE (0-0)
Thursday, Sept. 4 – 5:30 p.m. CT
Dirks Field – Durango, Colorado
 
CHAPARRAL HEADERS

• Lubbock Christian's 2025 scheduled features 17 total games. They will play at home eight times and on the road nine times, including this weekend's first two contests
• The Chaps were slotted sixth in the 22025 Lone Star Conference preseason poll, drawing 169 points in the poll, which was voted on by LSC head coaches, sports information directors and media members.
• LCU returns All-Conference Third Team selections Geoffroy Letienne and Manu Nunez for the 2025 campaign, along with LSC All-Academic selection Connor Pettigrew
• Letienne had a successful summer on the pitch as well, winning an NPSL title with Hickory FC. He scored goals in both the quarterfinal and semifinal matches
• This will be the fourth year for the Chaps to be led by Head Coach Collin Cone, who has an 18-18-17 record at LCU

 
GUESS WHO'S BACK…
Lubbock Christian returns a large portion of its roster from a season ago, bringing back 17 players overall from the 2024 squad. Key contributors who are back in Lubbock for another season with the Chaps include Letienne, Nunez and Pettigrew, who were recognized by the LSC last year. Letienne led the team in time on the field with 1,452 minutes played and is also the team's top-returning goal-scorer, having found the back of the net three times last year. Pierluigi Paradiso, Andrea Monticelli, Hugo Staunton and Francisco Horta all saw significant playing time last season and are returning for 2025.
 
FRESH FACES
That's not to say there isn't some new blood on the 2025 roster. In both transfers and high school recruits,  Lubbock Christian has added 19 new players. Seven of the players are transfers from other schools and 11 are fresh out of high school. Three players transferred from Division I schools, including Joao Catafesta (New Hampshire), Pedro Lucas (Albany) and Augusto Militao (Missouri-Kansas City).
 
OTHER ADDITIONS
The Chaparrals made a few other new key additions. Duvan Canchilla is still an assistant coach for Cone, now in his third season, but he is joined by newcomer Diego Berlingeri, who will be coaching the goalkeepers. Berlingeri joins the Chaps following a venturesome playing career at LeTourneau University (NCAA DIII), Blinn College (NJCAA DI), University of Missouri- Kansas City (NCAA DI), and University of Texas at Tyler (NCAA DII). The last but certainly not least addition to the roster is Cameron Russell, who signed with the Chaps last week as part of their partnership with Team IMPACT.
 
BETWEEN THE POSTS
One big returnee is LCU's last line of defense – goalkeeper Connor Pettigrew. Pettigrew started all 17 games in goal during the 2024 season In 2024, the Frisco native made 68 saves against 26 goals allowed for a save percentage of .723. His goals against average for the season was 1.53 and he notched five shutouts for the year. He posted a career-high eight saves against Adams State.
 
CENTENNIAL STATE SUCCESSES
LCU has played 16 games in program history in the state of Colorado, going 7-9-0 there all-time. The first-ever Chaparral trip to the Centennial State was a successful one, as they beat Colorado Christian 5-1 behind a hat trick from Mbongeni Ndlovu on Sept. 11, 2015. They also beat Adams State 2-1 on that 2015 trip. Lubbock Christian did not go to Colorado last season, but they made a successful trip in 2023, beating Fort Lewis 3-2 and Adams State 1-0.
 
LOOKING BACK
In the 2024 season, Lubbock Christian had a 6-6-5 record, finishing in a tie for sixth in the Lone Star Conference standings. The Chaps averaged 1.24 goals on 10.5 shots per game for the season, putting exactly 50 percent of their 178 total shots on goal. They drew 76 corners on the season. Defensively, they limited opponents to a shots on goal percentage of just .432 and only 69 corner kicks.
 
FURTHER BACK
The Lubbock Christian men's soccer program began in 2010 with a 3-1 win against the University of the Southwest (N.M.). Since that time, the Chaparrals have won amassed another 119 wins, pushing to an all-time record of 120-91-39. LCU has competed in three different conferences, and Cone is the fifth coach in program history. There have been four double-digit win seasons in school history, with the last coming in 2021 when LCU went 10-6-2.  
 
SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS

• Fort Lewis finished the 2024 season with a 14-4-6 record, including a 7-2-1 showing in RMAC play. Their season ended in the NCAA National Tournament Quarterfinal with a 1-0 loss against CSU-Pueblo
• FLC enters the season ranked No. 6 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. They are the second-highest ranked team in Super Region 4, behind only CSU-Pueblo (No. 4)
• The Skyhawks averaged 2.0 goals and 14.8 shots per game during the 2024 season
• Fort Lewis played three games during the summer in Costa Rica
• Goalkeeper Lucas Martin returns to the Skyhawks this season after allowing 0.84 goals per game in nearly 2,000 minutes in goal  last year

 
THE SERIES WITH FLC
Lubbock Christian and Fort Lewis have met at the beginning of each of the last four seasons, with two meetings in Durango and two in Lubbock. The Chaps have gone 1-2-1 in those four matchups, winning one and losing one in Colorado. The lone win came in their last trip to Durango, when Saimon Gjeci, Nako Amare and Pierluigi Paradiso all found the back of the net in a match that featured 10 yellow cards. Last season, LCU dropped the match against FLC 5-0.