GOLDEN, Colo. - Michael Sprauer's golden goal with 1:19 left in double overtime pushed #17 Colorado School of Mines to a must-have win over #12 Colorado Mesa at Stermole Stadium Friday.
In the regular season's penultimate contest, the Orediggers (13-3-1, 8-0-1 RMAC) had to beat the Mavericks (14-3-0, 8-1-0 RMAC) to regain control of the RMAC title race, and the victory puts Mines a win away from clinching the conference regular-season title. The Orediggers end the season Sunday at Westminster, while Mesa visits Colorado Christian.
It was a deserved win for the home team, which outshot CMU 21-11 and ate up possession throughout the match. Mines played a terrific first half with 60 percent of the possession and a 5-0 shots advantage, and held Mesa without a shot until the 53rd minute.
The Orediggers' breakthrough came in the 77th minute when
Azad Iliozer moved to his right across the top of the box and dumped the ball off to
Quin Collins, whose hard shot was well-saved by Connor Durant. The rebound fell right to Collins' feet, however, and he finished past the out-of-position goalkeeper to open the scoring.
It took the Mavericks less than three minute to respond with a quick-strike goal to equalize. Defender Isa Trujillo played a long pass from his own defensive third up to Daisuke Takanaka, who beat his defender to the ball and scored on the breakaway at 79:32. Mines pressured after that and nearly won it when
Vaughn Simpson headed off the right post in the 87th minute, and again when
Tristan Semelsberger's shot was inches left of the post second later.
The first overtime was largely uneventful, but the Orediggers, needing the win, went hard in the second extra period and again nearly won it when Simpson headed off the crossbar off a corner in the 102nd minute. Three more shots on goal by Simpson, Iliozer, and Collins were saved by Durant, but a corner in the 109th minute gave Mines one final chance. King swung the ball to the far post for Sprauer, who leaped over his marker and tucked his header inside the post for the winner with 1:19 left.
NOTABLES
- Mines now has 25 points to Mesa's 24, meaning either a Mines win, Mesa loss, or a Mines draw and Mesa draw or loss on Sunday will clinch the Orediggers their fifth consecutive RMAC regular-season crown.
- Sprauer scored for the third time this year and second time in four matches. It was not the midfielder's first career golden goal, or even his first against the Mavericks - he scored in overtime at CMU on April 25 to win the spring 2021 RMAC Tournament final for the Orediggers.
- Collins' goal was his fourth of the year.
- Mines snapped a CMU scoreless streak of more than 500 minutes; they had not surrendered a goal since Oct. 8 against Fort Lewis.
- King's assist on the gamewinner was his 11th of the year, which is now tied for the third-most in a season in program history.
- Mines is unbeaten in their last 10 matches (9-0-1).
- It was the Orediggers' third overtime win of the year after beating Seattle Pacific and Regis in overtime earlier this fall.
- Mines is unbeaten in their last seven against Colorado Mesa.
- Mines ended up with a 57%-43% possession advantage after a 60%-40% first half.
- The Orediggers celebrated senior day before the match, honoring
Garrett Miyaoka, Patrick Allen,
George Marchant,
Baptiste Debuire, Connor Van Loveren,
Lucas King, and
Greyson Adams. The class has won RMAC championships - both regular-season and tournament - in every year they've played at Mines with a chance for two more.
NEXT UP
Mines wraps up the regular season Sunday at Westminster with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.
