LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team made the short trip to Trailblazer Stadium Wednesday evening for their first midweek Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest of the year, taking on Colorado Christian in a battle of conference unbeatens after the first weekend. In fast-paced physical contest, it was the Orediggers (6-3-2, 3-0-0) who stood tall after 90 minutes, taking an early first half lead before adding a trio of second half scores to blank the Cougars (6-3-2, 2-1-0) by a final of 4-0.
 
Colorado Christian managed the first two shots of the evening, but the Orediggers answered right back with four of their own in quick succession, with Chris Seery firing two volleys back-to-back for Caelin David and Tristan Semelsberger took aim but both attempts missed as the action remained scoreless early.
 
Semelsberger scored the night's opening tally in the 28th minute, corralling a rebound from his previous shots seconds before with help from Azad Iliozer to find the back of the net as CCU's keeper scrambled to get back in position to no avail as Mines took the early 1-0 lead.
 
The physical action continued as the half wound down, seeing two yellow cards issued in the 32nd minute to both Mines and CCU along with six fouls before the two sides headed to their locker rooms to recompose for the final 45 minutes of the night.
 
Mines scored again shortly after play resumed in the second period, with Azad Iliozer finding the net off a corner kick from Lucas King to double the advantage to 2-0. The fifth-year man from Saint-Péray, France kept looking for more, as two more shots in the minutes that followed were both on target but saved by keeper Max Collingwood.
 
Colorado Christian's lone shot on goal of the night came in the 61st minute on a volley by Eli Donaho, but Brian Doherty was there to collect the save and preserve the lead and the shutout.
 
As the minutes marched on, the action devolved into a back-and-forth battle for possession with shots hard to come by until the final 10 minutes of play, when two more Oredigger goals put things all but out of reach for the Cougars. Gabriel Rodriguez snuck a shot into the lower right corner of goal from a cross by Quin Collins on a ball ahead by Chris Seery to make it 3-0 with nine minutes to go. Iliozer concluded scoring matters in the 86th minute, again scoring off a set piece but this time following a free kick from Ian Kugler that ricocheted off the wall off CCU defenders and back to Iliozer to make it 4-0 as Mines won their fourth match in a row and remained unbeaten in RMAC play.
 
NOTABLES
-Iliozer recorded his first career multi-goal outing in the contest and now has four on the season
-Semelsberger has now scored in three-straight matches, the longest such streak of his career
-Rodriguez now has scored twice in the last three matches and has three goals in 2022
-Doherty recorded a save as he and the defense recorded their fourth clean sheet of the season
-Mines has now recorded shutouts in two of their last three contests
-The Orediggers have now won the last 13 meetings with Colorado Christian
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers return to the road Sunday when they head to MSU Denver for an RMAC matchup with the Roadrunners set for a 12 p.m. kickoff.
 
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.