Mines (5-5-5, 4-3-1) at MSU Denver (6-7-3, 4-3-1) – Wednesday, 6 p.m. – Denver, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (5-5-5, 4-3-1) vs. Colorado Christian (4-5-6, 2-3-3) – Sunday, 12 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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ONE FINAL PUSH
The pressure is on in the final week of the regular season as the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team looks to secure a spot in the 2023 edition of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference men's soccer championship with two matches this week, first heading to MSU Denver Wednesday night before hosting Colorado Christian Sunday in the regular season finale.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through SIDEARM.
 
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.
 
WEEK 8 RECAP
Mines was involved on a pair of high scoring affairs over the weekend over the first two stops of their three-match road trip, dropping a 5-2 decision to Fort Lewis Friday night before scoring five goals in the final 19 minutes of play Sunday at Adams State. Friday night Quin Collins and Chris Seery provided the offense but FLC was just too much to overcome, while Sunday saw Caelin David, Marc Levin, Seery, Graham Shoaps and Raul Gerhardus all score while Collins, John Burnett, Levin, Bryce Bowman, Seery and Gerhardus all registered an assist while freshman Peter Saunders drew the first start of his career in goal and worked a six-save shutout.
 
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 89-24-17 overall with a mark of 62-5-7 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 dropped one spot to sixth with Colorado Mesa gaining one spot up to #17. Early season opponent Cal Poly remained ranked this week as they climbed to #11 while Cal State Monterey Bay, was also on the move, moving up one spot as well to #21. 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.
 
STANDINGS RESET
With one week left in the regular season and nothing guaranteed as far as the field for the 2023 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship set to start next week, here's where things stand at the moment. Fort Lewis currently sits atop the league with 17 points. After playing to a scoreless draw Sunday, CSU Pueblo and Colorado Mesa are tied for second with 16 points apiece. Westminster currently occupies fourth in the standings with 14 points, while Mines and MSU Denver are tied for fifth with 13 points and are in possession of the final two tournament spots. Currently on the outside looking in is UCCS in seventh with 12 points while Regis is in eighth with 10. Colorado Christian is ninth with nine points and is in need of wins and some help to try and sneak into the field, while South Dakota Mines and Adams State will see their seasons comes to an end on Sunday.
 
GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU
With Sunday being the final match of the regular season, the Orediggers will recognize the three seniors on this year's club who will be concluding their playing careers this season. Fifth-year senior and captain Ian Kugler along with Josef Emge and Chris Seery will all be recognized in a ceremony before the start of the match against the Cougars.
 
EVERYBODY KNOWS CHRIS
There might not be a hotter player in the RMAC or in all of NCAA Division II at this point in the season than Chris Seery. The native of Peterborough, England has been playing some of his best soccer of the season in recent weeks and after scoring in each of the Orediggers' matches this weekend and picking up an assist Sunday, now leads the team with six goals and 13 points and has scored in five of the last six matches. He's also penned his named among the league leaders in scoring, as he's tied for sixth in the RMAC with a host of others heading into the final week of the season.
 
IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT
Sunday as part of a new-look starting lineup for Mines freshman goalkeeper Peter Saunders got the call to make his first career start after playing parts of three matches in recent weeks in a reserve role. Much like his twin brother Henry Saunders who made his first career start on October 12, Peter answered the call and logged six saves against seven shots faced and helped orchestrate the team's fifth shutout of the season and first of his career. The Severna Park, Maryland product now has seven saves on the season and has yet to allow a goal in 128 minutes of action and might have earned himself some more looks as the season winds down.
 
YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST
Sunday's flurry of goals in the final 19 minutes included a pair of goals that were the first career scores for two Orediggers. In the 83rd minute, freshman Graham Shoaps teamed up Bryce Bowman and Raul Gerhardus on a free kick to find the net for the first time. Minutes later in the 87th minute, it was Gerhardus, playing in just his third match back from injury, connected on a one-timer from Chris Seery for his first collegiate goal. For Gerhardus, that first goal had to feel especially good after missing each of the last two seasons with injury as he looks to regain the form that saw him score 94 times at the high school level.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Behind his red-hot play of late, Chris Seery now stands alone atop the leaderboard when it comes goal scoring in Golden this season with six scores now, followed by Marc Zimmerman. Quin Collins, Marc Levin and Caelin David each have two apiece, all coming in the last two weeks, while Raul Gerhardus, Ian Kugler, Gabriel Rodriguez and Graham Shoaps have all scored as well. John Burnett's assist Sunday against Adams State now puts him in the top spot on the club with four as freshman Alex Gonzalez still has three while Collins and Levin have a pair each with six others registering one assist on the season.
 
In goal, Caden Allaire has been the main man this season, posting a record of 4-5-5 with three solo shutouts and making 50 saves, good for fifth in the RMAC this season, while allowing 21 goals for a .704 save rate and 1.55 GAA in 1,222 minutes. Peter Saunders is coming off this first career start Sunday and picked up with win with a shutout effort and now has seven saves without allowing a goal in 128 minutes of action.
 
On the season, Mines is now +2 in scoring differential with a pair of big offensive showings over the last two weeks and has now outscored opponents 23-21 in 15 matches. The Orediggers are now averaging 1.53 goals and 13.5 shots per match while allowing 1.40 goals and 12.5 shots per match to opponents. They have registered 17 assists on their 23 goals and combined for 57 saves in goal. Mines has taken 88 corners compared to 74 for opponents and is 1-2 on penalties this season while opponents are 2-2.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners have been playing well of late and despite only managing a 1-1 draw against Fort Lewis Sunday, they are 3-0-1 over their last four matches with shutout wins over South Dakota Mines (2-0) and Adams State (4-0).
 
A whopping 15 different players have helped account for the balance of the Roadrunners' scoring output this season with seven scoring at least twice led by Aaron Biggerstaff with a team-best six goals. Aidan Bates and Adan Perez have four goals apiece while Tanner Stevenson, Andres Arcila Saenz, Noah Hannula and Jackson Vander Ven have two goals each while another eight have one goal to their ledgers. Luke Bone has been one of the main facilitators on offense and leads the club with five assists while Bates and Stevenson and three each. Four other players have two assists each while an additional seven are credited with a single assist.
 
In goal, Ross Miller has played all but 46 minutes this season, starting all 16 matches and logging 1,394 minutes and making 50 saves against 23 goals allowed for a save percentage of .685 and a 1.49 GAA with a pair of solo shutouts. His backup Shawn Mantey has made three appearances for the remaining balance of the team's 1,440 minutes played and has two saves with no goals allowed against three shots faced.
 
Despite being just a tick under the .500 mark on the season, MSU Denver is +7 in goal differential, outscoring teams 30-23 on the season and averaging 1.88 goals per game. They also average 10.7 shots per match while limiting their opponents to 9.8 and have 26 assists on their 30 goals. Their goalies have combined to make 52 saves and they have taken 50 corner kicks while allowing 65. One thing to note in a game of such magnitude with playoff implications, the Roadrunners are 4-4 on penalties this season.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars take on MSU Denver Friday night before making the short trip over to Golden Sunday afternoon. They picked up a 1-0 win over South Dakota Mines on Friday afternoon to snap a six-match winless streak that saw them go 0-3-3 during that span.
 
Nine players have scored in 2023 for CCU but just two have done so more than once as Devin Najarro leads the team with three goals while Gabe Roloff is close behind with two. Seven other players have one goal each for the Cougars this season. In terms of assists, CCU has registered just six this season and spread across six different players including Najarro, Drew Brown, Caiden Dixon and Daniel Garciacano who have each also scored this season.
 
Between the pipes, it has been Michel Pinoncely alone in 15 matches, as he has played all 1,350 minutes and made 41 saves against 13 goals allowed for a save percentage of .759 and a 0.87 GAA to go with a record of 4-5-6 and seven solo shutouts.
 
On the year, CCU is -1 in goal differential at 13-12 and is averaging 0.80 goals and 9.5 shots per match. They have six assists on their 12 goals and have 41 saves defensively while attempting 53 corners kicks. Two things to keep an eye on, opponents are 3-3 on penalties against the Cougars this season, who as a team have been issued the third-most cautions as well as ejections in the RMAC in 2023, with 37 yellow cards and three reds being displayed.
 
SERIES HISTORY
All-time against MSU Denver, Mines leads the series 47-35-9 and enters Wednesday night on a four-match winning streak and winners of seven of the last eight matches. Last season the Orediggers picked up a 1-0 win in Denver and are 3-0-1 in their last four trips downtown. Against Colorado Christian, the series is much more one-sided with the Orediggers leading 46-10-2 all-time and winners of 13 in a row and winners of 33 of the last 34 meetings going back to 2003. When playing at home in series, Mines is 23-5-1 against the Cougars.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Depending how the week plays out, Mines will either see their season conclude or they will start preparing for the 2023 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship, which will begin with the quarterfinal round on November 2.
 
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.