GOLDEN, Colo. – Still in search of their first win of 2024, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team was back in action Saturday night under the lights at Stermole Stadium against their fourth consecutive opponent from the state of California, ninth-ranked Point Loma. After the two teams engaged in a scoreless battle over the first 45 minutes, they traded goals inside a two-minute span to open the second half before the Orediggers (1-3-0) put up an early contender for play of the year as Gabriel Rodriguez scored his second goal of the night to clinch the win over the Sea Lions (1-1-2) with a 2-1 result.
 
Not much took place offensively over the first 45 minutes of the night with both teams alternating between getting shots off in bunches or getting no shots off at all over the first 30 or so minutes. PLNU nearly broke the seal in the 33rd minute on a shot from Zach Mercieca, but it just missed wide off the post and rolled out of play.
 
Caden Allaire came up with three big stops over 41 seconds in the 41st minute, denying three different Sea Lions a shot at the night's first goal as the intermission came about with zeros still on the scoreboard.
 
Business picked up in a hurry to start the second half as after two blocked shots from Point Loma, Mines got on the board first in the 54th minute when Ayman Bushara disrupted a Sea Lion defender trying to clear the ball, knocking it away just far enough to give Rodriguez enough space to dribble once to the top of the penalty area and uncork a right-footed volleyball past the dive of Reiner ter Riet for his first goal of the season.
 
PLNU showed why they held their #9 ranking moments later as less than a minute after play resumed Felix Calero played a pass through the Mines defense to Elijah Langford, who found space amidst a trio of defenders for a shot from the top of the 18-yard box that found the net past the reach of Allaire to draw back even at 1-1.
 
Following the resumption of action, Marc Zimmermann looked to regain the lead in the 64th minute while Langford again tired in the 66th, but neither was able as both keepers rebounded to make the saves.
 
As the minutes wound down and the intensity of the match became more frenzied, Mines kept rotating fresh legs into the match with substitutions in the final 15 minutes. One of those line changes saw Rodriguez check back into the action in the 82nd minute ahead of a throw in by Maxwell Stultz from the near side in the Oredigger's attacking third.
 
Jaden Igarta was the first to contact the ball on the throw, heading it up and towards the edge of the six where Kian Mueller headed it down and past two defenders for Rodriguez, who beat his man and played the ball off the bounce with a diving header of his own to bury a shot in the upper left corner of the goal for the go-ahead score with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
 
Three more shots came in a hurry from the Sea Lions as they tried to rally back to even things up and force a draw, but the Orediggers had other ideas as they tightened the screws on defense and with one final save by Allaire with 30 seconds left and the ensuing clearance, Mines notched their first win of the season in front of a lively collection of the Stermole faithful with a 2-1 final score.
 
NOTABLES
-Rodriguez recorded his second career two-goal game Saturday night, last doing so back on September 26, 2021 in his freshman season against MSU Denver
-Bushara, Mueller and Igarta all recorded the first assists of their Mines careers in the winning effort
-Allaire tallied five big saves in the match including several highlight-worthy snags down the stretch
-Bushara and Paul Kliewer both made their first career starts in the match, while graduate transfer Jimmy Koufidakis made his Stermole Stadium debut off the bench
-Rodriguez and Marc Zimmermann led the way with two shots apiece offensively
-Mines improves to 1-0-1 all-time against the Sea Lions with the win
-Since 2022, the Orediggers 3-1-3 against ranked opponents at Stermole Stadium
-The win is the 90th of head coach Greg Mulholland's career
 
UP NEXT
Mines hits the road and heads back to California next weekend for two more Top 25 matchups against #3 Cal State Los Angeles and #21 Cal Poly Pomona.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's soccer on X and Instagram at @minesmsoc and @mines_msoc. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.