Mines (0-0-3) at Western Washington (1-2-1) – Thursday, 7 p.m. PT – Bellingham, Wash. [Live Stats] [WWU YouTube]
Mines (0-0-3) at Seattle Pacific (2-2-0) – Saturday, 5 p.m. PT – Seattle, Wash. [Live Stats] [SPU YouTube]

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After making their home debut over the weekend, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team will return to the road this week by heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on Western Washington Thursday night before clashing with Seattle Pacific Saturday evening.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the YouTube channels of Western Washington and Seattle Pacific respectively while live stats will be available through SIDEARM.
 
WEEK 2 RECAP
It was the same song, just a different verse last weekend for the Orediggers at home, as they had to rally from behind in both of their matches against Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino to earn a pair of draws by scores of 1-1 and 2-2 on Friday and Sunday. After going down to the Broncos midway through the first half, Nathan Dreher scored the first goal of his collegiate career on a ball from Quin Collins in the 60th minute before unfortunately being sent off for the final 12 minutes. Fortunately for the Orediggers, they were able to rise to the occasion and stave off a late push by CPP to earn the draw. Sunday against the Coyotes, Mines again went down early, this time staring down a two-goal deficit, but once again rallied in the second half to earn a draw. Chris Seery converted the first penalty kick of the season in the 67th minute before Marc Zimmerman scored his second goal of the season on a ball from freshman Alex Gonzalez in the 72nd minute to draw back even as that ended up being the final goal of the afternoon.
 
NEW FACES
11 newcomers join the program in Golden for the 2023 season, featuring a trio of transfers including two from the Division I ranks in Ayman Bushara (Air Force) and Luke Hanna (Tulsa). Eight freshmen join the mix as well from Maryland to Texas and Minnesota to Georgia as well as points in between. Get to know the newest Orediggers by reviewing the 2023 Signing Class here.
 
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 five years at the helm, Mulholland 84-18-14 overall with a mark of 57-3-6 in RMAC play. His overall winning percentage through the 2021 season ranks #1 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.
 
WELCOME BACK
14 members from last year's RMAC championship club are back with the program this fall, headlined by top returning scorers Chris Seery and Gabriel Rodriguez, who scored five and four goals respectively in 2022. Quin Collins, the man who scored in each of Mines' RMAC tournament matches last season, and Marc Levin, who converted the trophy-winning penalty kick in the 10th round of the title match, are also back.
 
IN THE POLLS
The second Top 25 poll of the regular season came down from the United Soccer Coach on Tuesday and saw a shakeup in the top five. Defending national champions Franklin Pierce remained atop the list, but the was movement behind them as Cal State Los Angeles moved up from fourth to second, Florida Tech moved up to third from fifth, CSU Pueblo rebounded back up to fourth from 12th and West Florida took over the fifth spot after moving up from eighth. UCCS, who checked in at #20 last week, moved up six places to #14 this week. Last weekend's opponents, Cal Poly Pomona and CSU San Bernardino, experienced opposite fortunes as the Broncos moved up from 19th to 15th while the Coyotes fell from ninth all the way down to 21st. Mines remains unranked, but continued to receive votes again this week. 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.
 
HOMECOMING WEEKEND
Mines redshirt sophomore Maxwell Stultz will be playing in his home state for the first time in his college career this weekend. A native of Anacortes, Washington, Stultz grew up less than an hour away from Western Washington's campus in Bellingham and played one year of high school soccer at the varsity level as a freshman before transferring to Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota. There's sure to be some folks from back home who will come out this weekend to cheer on the Washington State native.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Three matches are in the books for Mines this season and three different players have found the net, with Marc Zimmerman scoring a team-leading two goals while Nathan Dreher and Chris Seery have one apiece. When it comes to assists, the Orediggers have three this year courtesy of John Burnett, Quin Collins and Alex Gonzalez.
 
Between the pipes, Caden Allaire has been the main man this year, playing all 270 minutes in three matches, making 14 saves against four goals for a 1.33 GAA and .778 save percentage against 41 shots faced.
 
As a team, the Orediggers have scored four times and have 23 shots this season, seven of which have been on goal. Opponents have outshot Mines 13.7 to 7.7 in the first three matches, putting up 41 shots and 19 on goal.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN WASHINGTON
The Vikings cracked the win column for the first time in 2023 last weekend when they went on the road and knocked off Concordia Irvine 3-1 but followed up with a 1-0 loss to Point Loma last time out. WWU opened the year with a 1-1 draw at Somona State before dropping a 2-0 decision to Chico State. Thursday night when Mines comes to town will be their home opener.
 
Three players account for the four goals scored so far this season, with Albin Jonsson leading the team with two while Lucas Hakamade and Andrew Rotter each have one. Kyota Hiate's two assists are the high-water mark early on while Jonsson and Theo Steinmetz each have one.
 
In goal, it has been Brandon Locke for all four matches and 360 minutes played to date, as he has made 11 saves against five goals allowed for a GAA of 1.25 and a save percentage of .688 against 54 shots faced.
 
As a unit, Western Washington is currently -1 in goal differential and is averaging 11.8 shots per game while allowing 13.5. They have four assists on four goals scored and have 11 saves on the season compared to six by the opposition, and trail in corner kicks 25-18 on the season.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE PACIFIC
The Falcons have gone 1-1 each weekend to start the season, picking up wins over Sonoma State and Concordia Irvine by scores of 2-1 and 4-3 while dropping a 2-0 decision to Chico State and a 4-3 contest to Point Loma.
 
The highest scoring team Mines will have faced this season takes on Regis to begin their weekend before hosting the Orediggers. Raymundo Mendez is the team leader in both goals with three and assists with two and has been efficient with his offense, having put just four shots on goal in four matches. Orlando Erazo and Luis Zazueta have a pair of goals each while JJ Diaz and Brady Fendrich have one apiece. Tyler Speer and Cameron Yriondo are tied with Mendez atop the clubhouse leaderboard with two assists, with three other players each having one to their credit in the early going.
 
In goal, Cam Welty has started and completed all three matches he has played in, going 1-2-0 with nine saves against seven goals allowed for a 2.33 GAA and a .563 save percentage against 33 shots faced. His mate Mitchell Wilson has started once and made two saves while allowing three goals against eight shots faced for a GAA of 3.00 and a .400 save percentage.
 
As a team, SPU has scored nine goals but surrendered 10 in four matches while averaging 11 shots per game while allowing 10.3. They have nine assists on those nine goals and their goalies have combined for 11 saves. One category Seattle Pacific does have a sizeable advantage in is corner kicks, as they are +12 so far at 26-14.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines will look to snap a three-match losing streak in the series against Western Washington Thursday night and will have a chance to do it where they recorded their lone win in all-time series, which came back in 1998 by a score of 4-3 in double overtime. On the flip side, the Orediggers will look to keep good going against Seattle Pacific, having won the last three meetings to move to 4-1 all-time. Mines is 1-1 all-time when playing in Seattle, with their win coming on the last trip back in 2021 by a score of 3-2 in overtime.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
One more weekend of non-conference plays awaits Mines as they return to Stermole Stadium next weekend, but it will be against a pair of familiar teams in CSU Pueblo who comes to town Thursday September 21 at 7 p.m. before the westernmost member of the league Westminster arrives Sunday September 24 for a 12 p.m. match. Mines will play each team once again later this season once RMAC play begins.
 
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.