DENVER, Colo. – After spending last weekend out west to open their longest road trip of the season, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team was a little closer to home Thursday night as they made the short trip down Highway 58 and I-70 to take on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference leader Regis. The night got off to an inauspicious start for the Orediggers (2-9-2, 1-2-2), as they fell behind by as much as three early in the second half, but a furious rally over a nine-minute stretch saw them draw level and come away with another critical point against the Rangers (5-2-6, 4-0-1) by way of a 3-3 draw.
 
The Rangers went on the attack to open the night and picked up right where they left off the first time the team met this season on September 26, scoring the opening goal in the 15th minute on an eerily similar play as Ignacio Bellina and Liam Corr teamed up to play a ball ahead and into the box for Jacobo Betancourt-Tovar who tucked a shot just inside the far post to go out front.
 
The second Regis goal came not 10 minutes later in the 23rd minute following a foul and a yellow card assessed to Paul Kliewer that drew the ire of the Mines fans in attendance. Corr stood over the ball to take the free kick and went for goal on a shot from about 28 yards away, placing the ball inside as could be in the upper 90 of the near post despite a leaping save attempt from Peter Saunders to double the lead to 2-0.
 
The sophomore rebounded to make a save against Bellina on the next trip down the field by Regis before Noah Roles put Greg Squire to the test for the first time in the 32nd minute with a header off a Graham Shoaps throw in.
 
Saunders made three more saves while Squire made one of his own in the final seven minutes of the opening period as the first 45 minutes came and went with the Rangers ahead by two.
 
As play resumed in the second half, Regis managed to add onto their lead barely five minutes in as Betancourt-Tovar headed one home from left to right over the arms of Saunders on a long cross from Vasili Papadpoulos on the near side to make it 3-0.
 
In desperate need of something to break their way in what devolved into an extremely physical match in the second half, the Orediggers got the shot in the arm they needed in the 57th minute. A corner kick from the far side of the field was gathered up in the near corner by Roles. The freshman played a cross around a defender and up the endline to the top corner of the six-yard area where Ayman Bushara was waiting for the finish, putting the ball in the back right corner past Squire to get on the board.
 
A second goal followed in short order just 53 seconds later as Bushara played a throw in from Henry Saunders up the far sideline in front of the Mines bench to Smith Russell. Russell deftly chipped the ball ahead through four defender to a wide-open Raul Gerhardus for the right footed finish from about 15 yards out into the back left corner to cut the gap to just one at 3-2.
 
With momentum squarely on their side and Regis on their heels defensively, the Orediggers cashed in one final time in the 65th minute to knot things up at 3-3. Following a hard takedown of Quin Collins by Arjun Venkat resulted in a free kick awarded just inside the sideline in front of the visiting bench. Gerhardus was the action man as he played the ball into the box where Roles was the first to contact it, heading it toward goal for Squire who made the initial save. Unfortunately for Squire, the ball caromed off the cross bar and back into play where it found the head of Collins for the finish as the Regis keeper was unable to recover in time as with less than 30 minutes to play it was a brand-new ball game.
 
With the Regis faithful in stunned silence about what had just transpired over the previous eight minutes, both sides now looked to find the potential go-ahead score. Corr and Johan Murillo led a renewed attack for the Rangers while on the other side, it was Jimmy Koufidakis, Charlie Newberry, Gabriel Rodriguez and Caelin David for Mines. Newberry and David had the best looks down the stretch, as the Dayton transfer headed a shot just wide of the far post off a free kick while the senior collected the ball out top off a corner kick and also missed just outside the far post.
 
Saunders dug in his heels and went to work along with the defense in the closing stages of the action, as a last-ditch shot from Cameron Bennetti in the 90th minute found the sophomore's gloves as time expired on a comeback for the ages by Mines as they collected another valuable point in the standings with the 3-3 draw.
 
NOTABLES
-Bushara scored for the second match in a row and is now once again tied with Rodriguez for the team lead in scoring with four goals this season, while his assist was his second of the season and gives him a team-leading 10 points
-Gerhardus notched his first goal of the season and third of his career, giving him eight points in 12 matches as he is now averaging 0.67 points per match played
-Collins' equalizer was his second goal of the season and matches his season high from 2022 and 2023 while putting him into double figures for his career with 10 goals
-Roles became the fourth freshman to record their first career point this season via the assist on the Bushara goal
-Russell was credited with an assist along with Bushara on the goal by Gerhardus which is his second of the season
-Saunders rebounded from a shaky start to the night to finish with three saves in goal
-Josh Ary made his first career start and logged 52 minutes
-Roles played all 90 minutes for the first time this season as did David
- Newberry became the first man to 1,000 minutes this season as he played the full 90 for the fifth match running and eighth time this season
-The Orediggers are now 4-1-2 in their last seven trips to Regis going back to 2015
-The three goals scored Thursday night are the most in a match this season and the third time Mines scored multiple goals against an opponent
-The three-goal deficit the Orediggers erased to earn the draw is the largest comeback to earn a point in the result since September 15, 2002, when Mines rallied from down 3-0 on the road in a 4-2 win over Fort Lewis
 
UP NEXT
The Oredigger conclude their four-match road trip Sunday afternoon when they head north to Rapid City for a matchup with South Dakota Mines.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines men's soccer on X and Instagram at @minesmsoc and @mines_msoc. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.