#16 Mines (10-4-2, 7-1-0) at Colorado Mesa (8-6-1, 3-4-1) – Friday, 7 p.m. – Grand Junction, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#16 Mines (10-4-2, 7-1-0) vs. Westminster (8-6-1, 5-2-1) – Sunday, 11 a.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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THE FINISH LINE IN SIGHT
It's the final weekend of the regular season with just two matches remaining for the #16 Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team as they look to lock up a sixth-consecutive RMAC Regular Season title, first heading to Colorado Mesa Friday evening before returning to Stermole Stadium Sunday for the regular season finale against Westminster.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through SIDEARM.
 
THANK YOU, GENTLEMEN
Prior to the start of Sunday's match, Mines will recognize the eight seniors on this year's team. Those playing their final regular season home match include Brian Doherty, Michael Sprauer, Tristan Semelsberger, Eric Boone, Lucas King, Joe George, Azad Iliozer and Kenneth Symmes
 
WEEK EIGHT RECAP
Despite a 1-1-0 showing against a pair of Top-25 opponents over the weekend, Mines ended the weekend in the same place they started it, atop the RMAC standings with a two-point lead over CSU Pueblo. Thursday night, the then third-ranked ThunderWolves scored an early goal before tacking on a second later in the action to collect a 2-0 win and briefly take over the top spot in the standings. Sunday against then #17 UCCS, Mines got a goal from Tristan Semelsberger and a career day in goal from Brian Doherty, as he notched eights saves against a relentless Mountain Lion offense to post a shutout in a 1-0 win as the Mines victory, coupled with a CSU Pueblo loss to Colorado Christian, vaulted the Orediggers back atop the league with two matches remaining.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
The Mavericks went 1-1-0 last weekend, enjoying a 6-0 win over South Dakota Mines on the road Friday afternoon before falling 2-0 to Regis on Sunday afternoon. Daisuke Takanaka and Manuel Ponce Casas lead the way in scoring with six goals apiece, with the former holding a one-point edge over the latter at 15-14 by way of having three assists, which is tied for second the team. Fernando Morales is next with five goals followed by a quartet with at least two goals, while the remaining 11 goals this season are divvied up over 11 other Mavericks. Diogo Silva has four assists to lead the team while Joey Joiner and Leo Mireles each have three alongside Takanaka. In goal, CMU has utilized two keepers with Connor Durant starting 11 times for 959 minutes and making 36 saves and posting a .679 save percentage and a 1.59 GAA. More recently, it has been Diego Chavez in goal, who has started four of the last five matches and gone 3-1-0 in that span with three shutouts and 14 saves, allowing just two goals against 39 shots for a save percentage of .875.
 
SCOUTING WESTMINSTER
The Griffins saw a four-match winning streak come to and end last Friday with a 2-1 setback at Regis, but bounced back by beating South Dakota Mines 2-0 in Rapid City. This week, they'll take on CCU Friday evening at home before making the flight out to Golden for Sunday's matchup. Luke Merrill leads the tram with five goals and 11 points while Jack Cardwell and Din Huremovic each have four goals, two assists and 10 points. Four other Griffins have multiple goals to their ledgers this season while an additional six have one score each. Jace Vance and Luis Martinez are tied atop the leaderboard in assists with three, with four others each recording one. Roark Looney has been the main man in goal this season, playing 990 minutes in 11 starts and making 34 saves and recording four shutouts with a GAA of 1.27 and a .708 save percentage. Noah Larkin has started the other four matches for Westminster for 360 minutes, logging a shutout and nine saves with a GAA of 1.75.
 
SERIES HISTORY
When it comes to CMU, Mines leads all time 21-5-2. The teams met in the NCAA Second Round last season and played to a 0-0 draw before the Mavericks advanced on penalties 3-2. Prior to that, Mines had won six of the previous seven meetings, including a pair of overtime thrillers in the fall and spring of 2021. Sunday will be the second meeting of the season between the Griffins and the Orediggers, with Mines taking the first matchup of the season in Salt Lake City back on September 18 by a score of 2-1, coming from behind and playing down a man for the final 55 minutes of the match. The Orediggers now lead the series 14-6-3 and have won nine of the previous 10 matchups with a scoreless draw in 2019 being the lone blemish in recent history. The last time the teams met in Golden was in 2018, which saw Mines take a 1-0 win.
 
THE SKIPPER
Head Coach Greg Mulholland joined the program in 2007 as an assistant coach before taking over as interim head coach in 2017 and full head coach in 2018, making the 2022 season his 16th with the Orediggers. Through five years at the helm, Mulholland 81-18-11 overall with a mark of 55-3-6 in RMAC play. His overall winning percentage through the 2021 season ranks #1 among all active coaches in NCAA Division II with a minimum of five years as a DII head coach. Last season, Mulholland became the first men's soccer coach in the history of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to win five straight RMAC regular-season championships. He is a three-time RMAC Coach of the Year and headed the 2019 and 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches South Central Region Staffs of the Year.
 
THEY ARE THE CAPTAINS NOW
One day prior to the season opener, Coach Mulholland announced that the 2022 team captains are Lucas King and Grant Bell. King is entering his sixth season with the program and fifth as a starter between outside back and the midfield. He led the team in assists in 2021 on his way to Second-Team All-America status. Bell, an outside back, is a true sophomore who started 13 of 20 matches in 2021 and appeared in 18 while scoring one goal with two assists and serving on a back line that helped post eight shutouts thanks to a combined 0.87 goals-against average.
 
CHECKING THE STAT SHEET
16 matches are in the books in 2022 for Mines and with his goal Sunday, Tristan Semelsberger became the first 10-goal scorer in a season since John Haist in 2018. The Los Alamos native ranks second in the RMAC in goals and fourth in points, while his five game-winners lead the conference. Chris Seery and Michael Sprauer have five goals apiece while Azad Iliozer has four and five assists, tied for most on the team, for 13 points, which is second on the club alongside Seery. Lucas King joins Iliozer atop the assist column with five of his own to go with a goal for seven points this season. Five other players have scored this season for Mines while a total of 12 have recorded an assist. Between the pipes, it has been Brian Doherty for the majority of the season, as he's started 15 times and played 1,247 minutes and made 38 saves while logging six shutouts and posting a 1.08 GAA. Entering this weekend, he ranks among the top of the league in all three categories. Kenneth Symmes has played the remaining balance of 193 minutes this season in four matches, including a start against Westminster in September, and has six saves and a GAA of 0.93 in 2022.  
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Two different Orediggers are currently making moves in the program record book. Lucas has passed Jared Peacock's mark of 32 and is now tied with Tesho Akindele at #2 all-time with 33. King now needs eight more assists to break Niki Grotz' (2014-17) all-time record of 41. Also making moves is goalkeeper Brian Doherty. His shutout against San Francisco State gave him sole possession of #5 on the Orediggers' all-time shutouts list. Doherty's 14 clean sheets during his time at Mines put him ahead of OJ Bullard (2000-03) and now one back of Kevin Galloway (2003-06) at #4 with 15.
 
NEW RULES
NCAA soccer has implemented a major rule change this season with the elimination of overtime in the regular season, bringing college soccer more in line with the FIFA Laws of the Game. Any match that is tied at the 90-minute mark will now end that way. In the postseason, there will be overtime but no more golden goal; teams will play two full 10-minute extra periods regardless of any goals and if it is still tied, the advancing team will be decided on penalty kicks.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines was picked #2 in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll announced earlier this season while making an appearance at #20 in the first United Soccer Coaches Division II Top 25 of the season. This week, Mines burst back into the Top 25, checking in at #16 in this week's edition of the poll. The Orediggers were edged on the conference list by Colorado Mesa which earned eight first-place votes and 97 points while Mines totaled three first-place votes and 92 points. On the national list, CSU Pueblo falls to #11 this week following a 2-0 loss to Colorado Christian while UCCS dropped to #20, with early-season opponent Cal Poly Pomona gaining one spot to #13. In the first NCAA Super-Region rankings released Wednesday, Mines was among 12 teams total and one of three from the RMAC listed in Super-Region 4. Alongside the Orediggers are both opponents from last weekend CSU Pueblo and UCCS, while Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Pomona, Midwestern State, Northwest Nazarene, Simon Fraser, St. Mary's (TX), West Texas A&M and Western Washington completed the group.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following the conclusion of the regular season, the 2022 edition of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship is set to begin Thursday October 27 with quarterfinal action. The top two seeds in the six-team field will get a bye to the semifinal round set for Sunday October 30, with the championship match played Friday November 4.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's soccer on Twitter at @MinesMSOC. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.