GOLDEN, Colo. – After settling for a single point in Friday night's draw, the #16 Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team took the field Sunday afternoon at Stermole Stadium with one objective in mind, to maximize points against Western Colorado. At the end of 90 minutes, the Orediggers (7-2-3, 3-1-2) were riding high, having accomplished the objective behind four goals from four different scorers, downing the Mountaineers (1-8-2, 1-4-0) by a final tally of 4-0.
 
The match got off to a bit of a slow start, with WCU controlling possession for most of the opening 20 or so minutes as Mines looked to try and shake off what hangover may have remained from Friday night's draw. In the 18th minute, Landry Corbett put up the first shot of the day against Mei Hayashizaki followed by Reese McDermott in succession in the 20th minute, but all three shots came up empty.
 
In the 28th minute, Callie Fuhr got things moving in the right direction when she was able to finish with her right foot and sneak a shot just inside the near post on a short corner kick from Ava Harman for the first goal of the day.
 
The second goal for Mines followed closely behind in the 30th minute, when Ellise Putnam played a ball ahead off a Mines throw in to the embodiment of instant offense, Bella Campos who had just subbed into the match less than a minute prior. Putnam's pass split two Mountaineer defenders and left Campos one-on-one with Hayashizaki, who came charging off her line to meet the freshman out near the top of the 18-yard box and ultimately colliding with Campos, but not before she was able to chip the ball over the sliding netminder and just far enough ahead of the WCU defenders that it rolled into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
 
The Orediggers kept firing away on offense as the shot count continued to skyrocket, but their final four shots on goal of the half were all greeted by leather instead of nylon as it remained a 2-0 game heading to the break.
 
When play picked up again in the second, it didn't take long for Mines to get on the board again, as Laura Butler took a short pass from McDermott near the top of the arc and blasted a top-shelf volley that left Hayashizaki flat-footed to make it a 3-0 contest in the 50th minute.
 
Four shots later, the Orediggers tacked on their fourth score of the day in the 58th minute, finding success in the set piece game once more as this time, Harman's corner kick from the far side was played into the box and headed home by Katie Koehler in a scene that has become all too familiar for opponents this year to make it a 4-0 lead.
 
While the pressure from the Mines attack relented over the final 30 minutes, it did not dissipate entirely as others looked to join the scoring party. Ariana Ahumada and Putnam each put a ball on goal in the final 10 minutes, but weren't able to add their name to the ledger as the action concluded with a 4-0 win and three more points in the standings to keep pace with the league leaders.
 
NOTABLES
-Fuhr's goal was her first of the season and her career as she becomes the third backline player for Mines to score this season, joining Kohler and Natalie Rouse
-Campos' goal moves her impressive freshman season tally to seven and move back into a tie with McDermott for the team lead and now has 17 points on the year
-Butler scored her second goal of the season and found the next for the second consecutive Sunday and is into double figures now with 10 career goals
-Koehler's goal was her third of the season and now leaves her one shy of her single-season career high of four set last season as her career total moves to seven
-Sadie Wolf and Carstens combined for the shutout in goal, with the latter logging the only two saves of the afternoon by Mines
-Harman's two assists give her five on the season now as she turned in her second multi-assist outing of the season
-Putnam's assist was her sixth of the season and fourth in the last two weeks of action
-McDermott's assist gives her four on the season and a team-high 18 points; she has now doubled her previous career best of two assists from each of the last two seasons and has four of her eight career dimes in 2023
-The Orediggers ended the day with a 26-6 advantage in shots with a 15-2 edge in shots on goal; they now have attempted at least 22 shots in eight of 11 matches this season
-As a team, Mines now has 32 assists on 33 goals and are fast approaching last season's mark of 41 assists, which is fifth all-time in program history
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers hit the road for their next two matches, but will stay close home in doing so as they'll head to Lakewood to face Colorado Christian Thursday morning at 11 a.m. before going downtown Sunday to take on MSU Denver at 12 p.m.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's soccer on Twitter and Instagram at @mineswsoc. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.