Mines (2-4-5, 1-2-1) vs. Regis (3-7-2, 1-2-1) – Thursday, 6 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (2-4-5, 1-2-1) vs. South Dakota Mines (3-9-0, 1-3-0) – Sunday, 12 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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A BIG WEEKEND AWAITS
With just six matches to play before the postseason, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team needs to maximize their points potential starting this weekend at Stermole Stadium as they take on Regis and South Dakota Mines on Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets are available for pre-purchase at minesathletics.com/tickets as well as on the day of the event at the gate. Parking in Lot K is free after 5 p.m. during the week and on weekends. Additional parking is available in Lot Q located at Elm and West Campus Drive, the parking garage located at 14th and Maple Streets, and in City of Golden municipal parking along 11th Street. Visit mines.edu/parking for a parking map.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through SIDEARM.
 
WEEK 6 RECAP
Mines was able to pick up three points over the weekend at home, but had to wait until Sunday to do it. Despite falling behind Thursday to Colorado Mesa, the Orediggers were able to rally on two occasions, first to tie things before the half courtesy of Chris Seery and again in the second half as a frenzied final 15 minutes saw a Mavericks own goal, but a two-goal second half deficit was too much to over come in a 3-2 contest. In round two against the Griffins, Mines was able to win the match that mattered, as both Seery and Marc Zimmerman scored while the defense allowed just four shots on goal and withstood a late score by Westminster to win 2-1.
 
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 six-plus years at the helm, Mulholland 86-23-17 overall with a mark of 60-5-7 in RMAC play. His overall winning percentage through the 2022 season ranks in the top 10 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 four-time RMAC Coach of the Year and headed the 2019 and 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches South Central Region Staffs of the Year.
 
WEARING THE C
Grant Bell, Caelin David and Ian Kugler will be the three men wearing the armband this season as selected by the team and coaches. Bell was a key member of a back line unit that logged 10 shutouts last season started 11 times in 16 matches for 1,128 minutes with an assist to his ledger in 2022. David and Kugler made up a deadly duo in the midfield last season, with the former earning Honorable Mention All-RMAC laurels by starting all 21 matches and leading the team with 1,813 minutes and picking up an assist along the way, while Kugler, a fifth-year senior, started 15 times in 19 matches for 1,228 minutes and tallied a goal and two assists.
 
IN THE POLLS
In the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25 announced Tuesday, Mines didn't earn in any votes this week, but several RMAC rivals remain in the national discussion as CSU Pueblo regained standing in the top five at #5, while Colorado Mesa still earned votes while early season opponent Cal Poly remained ranked at #7. As far as the RMAC goes, the ThunderWolves were picked to finish atop the conference while Mines, UCCS, Colorado Mesa and Regis rounded out the top five.
 
THE COMFORTS OF HOME
Playing at Stermole Stadium under head coach Greg Mulholland has seen the Orediggers compile a great deal of success, something they will look to continue starting this weekend. Since 2017, Mines is 47-11-6 when playing at home, scoring seven or more wins on home turf in five of those seasons. Looking to regain their footing this season, Mines has a prime chance to do so over the course of the next two weeks.
 
RACE FOR THE POSTSEASON HEATS UP
With just six matches left in the regular season, the race for the six spots in the 2023 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship is a close one. Currently, three teams remain unbeaten in league action with CSU Pueblo leading the way with 12 points, followed by Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis who each have 10 and are tied for second. Westminster is right behind in fourth with nine points, and then it gets interesting from fifth on back. Currently Colorado Christian is in the field with five points, followed by Mines and Regis who are tied for sixth with four points and right behind them with three points are MSU Denver and South Dakota Mines, while UCCS could still rally into the conversation with two points. Starting this weekend, the Orediggers will have four of their final six matches against teams they are even with or above in the standings, meaning they have a prime chance to earn some points and avoid missing the postseason.
 
EVERYBODY KNOWS CHRIS
Chris Seery seems to be heating up at the right time of year for Mines as the temperatures begin to slowly dip with the fall weather. The Englishman scored twice last weekend, once in each match against Colorado Mesa and Westminster, to become the second multi-goal scorer for the Orediggers this season with three. Seery now has an even dozen goals during his time in Golden and will look to clear last season's career best mark of five before this year is up. Mines will need him to continue his strong play if they want to make a push for the playoffs.
 
NEXT MAN UP
One never knows when their name may be called upon to take on a bigger role over the course of a season in any sport, much less one as long and rigorous as college soccer. With some of his mates dealing with various ails, freshman Henry Saunders found out he was going to get the starting nod on the Mines back line Sunday against Westminster, and rose to the occasion better than perhaps anyone could have hoped. After debuting against CSU Pueblo on the first of the month and coming on late against CMU Thursday, Saunders had exactly 11 minutes of collegiate experience to his name. Sunday against the Griffins, he logged 86, coming off after being banged up in the late minutes himself. His efforts, alongside those of Hilmir Arnarsson, Alex Gonzalez and others limited Westminster to just four shots on goal in the match, with their only goal coming on a mad scramble in front of goal off a corner kick that saw three shot attempts in a matter of seconds, with the third finding its way through after a block and a save. That kind of mentality will be key for the Orediggers over the next three weeks as they look to right the ship and start hauling in the points down the stretch.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Marc Zimmerman maintained his team lead in scoring with what ended up being the game-winner Sunday against Westminster and now has four scores to his credit this season, while Seery like we mentioned about has three. Ian Kugler and Nathan Dreher each have one goal apiece while an own goal by Colorado Mesa completes the balance of scoring for the Orediggers this season so far. Freshman sensation Alex Gonzalez added another assist to his credit over the weekend and continues to lead the team with three, while Kugler, John Burnett, Quin Collins and Gabriel Rodriguez each have one.
 
In goal, Caden Allaire has started all 11 matches and logged 971 minutes, making 36 saves against 16 goals allowed for a GAA of 1.48 and .692 save rate to post a 2-4-5 record with two shutouts while facing 141 shots. Freshman Peter Saunders made his Mines debut in the CMU match, playing the final 19 minutes and making a save against the only shot he faced in the match.
 
For the year, Mines is -6 in goal differential at 16-10 and has been outshot 142-125, an average of 12.9-11.4 per night. They have seven assists on their 10 goals and have a combined 37 saves in goal and have taken 62 corner kicks as opposed to 60 for the opposition.
 
SCOUTING REGIS
The first two weeks of RMAC play have certainly been a mixed bag of results for Regis, going 1-2-1 but could just as easily be 2-1-1 if not for a controversial ending to their match against Colorado Mesa back on September 28. Last weekend, they earned three points with a 1-0 win over Adams State before falling to Fort Lewis 3-1.
 
Seven different Rangers have found the back of the net in 2023, led by Michael Jiminez with four and followed by the reigning RMAC Player of the Year, Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit with three goals. Ben Shepherd and Vilhjalmur Kaldal each have a pair while three others have each scored once. When it comes to assists, Shepherd and Liam Corr lead Regis with two apiece while five others including Carlson-Du Toit have one.
 
In goal, Regis has utilized the tag team of Greg Squire and Cristian Sattin. Squire has started all seven matches he has appeared and leads the pair with 568 minutes and is 1-4-2 with 12 goals allowed and 28 saves against 108 shots faced for a 1.90 GAA and .700 save rate. Sattin has started five times in eight outings for 512 minutes and has the slight edge in saves with 29 while allowing 10 goals and posting a ledger of 2-3-0 with the team's only shutout against 100 shots to post a GAA of 1.76 and a save percentage of .744; important to note that he got the starting nod each of the last two matches for the Rangers.
 
Collectively, Regis is -8 in goal differential at 22-14 and has been outshot on the season 208-146, an average of 17.3-12.2 per night in favor of the opposition. They have nine assists on their 14 goals and have a combined 57 saves while attempting 40 corner kicks to 77 for opponents. One area to keep an eye on Thursday night is the card count; the Rangers have been issued 29 cautions, the fourth-most in the RMAC this year, and have three ejections, tied for the most alongside UCCS in 2023.
 
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
2023 has been tough sledding as well for the other RMAC team with the word "mines" in their name, but the Hardrockers did snap a three-match slide with a 3-1 win over Adams State on Sunday for their second win over the Grizzlies this season (the teams played a non-conference match in Alamosa on September 24 and saw SDM win 2-1). They'll take on MSU Denver in their first action of the weekend before coming to Golden Sunday.
 
10 different players have been able to find the net scoring-wise this year for South Dakota Mines, but just one of those 10 has more than one goal, as Hayden Jaramillo lays claim to that honor as well as being the top man in the clubhouse in assists, as he also has two of those and is one of seven players to log an assist on the season. Garrett Cole, Will, Mauritsen and Parker Yocum each have one goal and one assist for three points on the season.
 
Between the pipes, Daniel Freitas has been the leading man this year, starting eight times in 10 outings for 777 minutes and making 50 saves, the second-most in the RMAC, while allowing 22 goals against 150 shots for a GAA of 2.55 and a .694 save percentage as he owns a 2-7-0 record and the team's lone shutout. Backing him up has been Kole Villescas, who has started all four of his appearances and logged 303 minutes, making nines saves while allowing seven goals against 32 shots for a 2.08 GAA and a .563 save rate.
 
On the season, SDM is -18 in scoring margin at 29-11 and is allowing over 2.4 goals per match and is being outshot by opponents 182-105 for an average 15.2-8.8. They have eight assists on their 11 goals and have 59 combined saves in goal while attempting 39 corner kicks and allowing 75. One key area to watch is penalty kicks; while the Hardrockers are 1-1 from the spot, they have been whistled seven times inside the area, with opponents converting on six of those attempts.
 
SERIES HISTORY
When Regis makes the short trip up the road Thursday, it will be the 91st meeting all-time between the teams with Mines leading the series 45-35-10 and riding a two-match winning streak while also coming out on top in eight of the last 13 meetings, going 8-2-3 in that span. All-time at home the Orediggers are 21-16-4 against the Rangers. Against South Dakota Mines, things are about as good as they can get, with the Orediggers winning all nine previous meetings with the Hardrockers and going 5-0 at home with an overall scoring margin in the series of 33-5.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers return to the road for their next three matches, starting with a trip to Durango and Fort Lewis Friday October 20 before heading to Alamosa for the penultimate road match of the season against Adams State Sunday October 22.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's soccer on Twitter and Instagram at @MinesMSOC and @mines_msoc. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.