GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to finish the regular season on a high note, the #16 Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team was back on the pitch at Stermole Stadium Sunday afternoon for a Senior Day showdown against Westminster. It was all Orediggers (12-4-2, 9-1-0) from the opening kick, as a trio of first half goals followed by a fourth in the second half along with a dominant defensive effort against the Griffons (9-7-1, 6-4-1) resulted in 4-0 win to clinch the program's sixth consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship and 12th in Mines history.
 
Mines opened up the afternoon by going on the offensive early, as Azad Iliozer and Michael Sprauer put up a pair of early tries in the opening 10 minutes before Tristan Semelsberger opened the scoring with a candidate for goal of the season, connecting on a bicycle kick from the near side of the six yard box as his shot went behind a Griffin defender and past the reach of Roark Looney into the upper left corner for his 13th goal of the season and third in as many matches to take the early 1-0 lead.
 
Following the restart, Westminster looked to answer back right away as their leading scorer Jack Cardwell put a shot on goal, but Brian Doherty was there to make the save and put the ball back in play right away as Mines raced back down the field on offense. Eric Boone got behind the defense and came away with the ball in the near side corner before playing it into the box across the face of the goal to a waiting Iliozer, who collected the pass before juggling twice to beat a pair of defenders before launching a strike to the lower left corner past Looney to make it 2-0 in a span of 75 seconds.
 
The Orediggers continued to push the pace of the action as the half wore on, spending most of the action in their offensive third as Westminster tried to find an answer defensively. Boone, Iliozer, Joe George and Michael Sprauer each put a shot on goal looking to add to the lead and put things out of reach early, but Looney was able to shake the two early scores and make saves on all four shots.
 
In the 39th minute, Mines struck again, this time as Ian Kugler was on the receiving end of a cross from Gabriel Rodriguez to make it a 3-0 game heading into the intermission.
 
Just 45 minutes away from locking up the number one seed in the conference tournament, Mines kept their foot on the gas as the action resumed in the second half. Chris Seery put up a pair of tries but both were saved by the new Westminster goalie Noah Larkin. A pair of shots from the Griffons in the following minutes both missed their marks high and wide before Seery again put a shot on goal in the 67th minute, only for it too to be saved by Noah but out of bounds for a Mines corner. After a pair of quick substitutions, the corner kick into the box was controlled first by Seery, whose shot was again saved but the rebound was collected by the recently re-entered Rodriguez, who had no problem taking advantage to cash in for the score to make it 4-0 Orediggers.
 
A myriad of substitutions for Mines followed in the final 20 minutes as fresh legs were able to continue a strong defensive effort to keep Westminster off the scoreboard. A laser strike from John Burnett in the 78th minute would have been tough to stop had it not missed wide left, while in the 87th minute, a shot off a free kick from Marc Zimmerman near the top of the box just missed high over the crossbar as the action came to close with the Orediggers winning 4-0 and laying claim once more to RMAC Regular Season gold.
 
NOTABLES
-Semelsberger has now scored in three-straight matches for the third time this season and now leads the RMAC with 13 goals
-Iliozer's goal was his sixth of the season, now the second-most on the team.
-Kugler's goal just before the half was his first of the season and third of his career as he becomes the 11th different player to score this season for Mines
-Rodriguez finished with three points, recording an assist and a goal in the same game for the second time this season; he last accomplished the feat back on September 23 against Adams State when he scored a goal and recorded two assists
-Doherty recorded one save before turning things over to Symmes as the two keepers and the defense combined for the team's ninth shutout of 2022
-Mines outshot Westminster in the match 20-4, including 15-1 in SOG
-The Orediggers also saw at least four different goal scorers for the second time this season, the last time coming on September 23 against Adams State
-Mines now owns 12 RMAC regular season titles all-time and has won a record six straight
 
UP NEXT
With the win, Mines clinches the #1 seed in the 2022 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship and gets a first-round bye as a result. The Orediggers will be back at home Sunday October 30 at 2:30 p.m. against the winner of #4 UCCS and #5 Regis on Thursday October 27.
 
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.