GOLDEN, Colo. – After spending the last two weekends defending their claim to their #1 ranking, the Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team returned to Stermole Stadium Friday night to make their home debut as the top-ranked team in the country against Colorado Christian. On a frigid and rainy evening more worthy of winter than fall, the Orediggers (12-0-1, 6-0-1) turned up the heat on offense, matching their season-high output on offense with goals from five different players on their way to a 5-0 win over the Cougars (3-7-2, 2-4-1).
 
CCU came out strong with the opening kickoff, looking to push their attack and try to get one over on the Orediggers early as Hannah Mares' shot in the second minute set an early tone despite being blocked.
 
Reese McDermott led the charge back the other way once Mines got their offense organized, putting Alana Lopp to the test for the first time in the 13th minute and in again in the 26th with shots from Ava Harman, Lauren Clingman and Afton Rasco in between as the pressure shifted squarely onto the Cougars to try and slow down one of the nation's best offensive attacks.
 
It wasn't long after that the Orediggers took the lead in the 29th minute. Following a goal kick by Lopp, Mines regained possession near midfield with the ball eventually settling at the feet of Ellise Putnam who played it ahead to Kaitlyn Manalili. Manalili's cross into the box was cleared back out to the far side in front of the Cougars' bench where Jolie Jiricek settled it before playing it back the Manalili. The junior then dribbled toward the corner before launching a right-footed shot toward goal that deflected off the hands of a leaping Lopp and into the back of the net to open the scoring.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, some poor ball handling in the CCU midfield led to an errant pass which McDermott was all too happy to track down about 28 yards out from goal. Splitting pair of defenders, she raced inside the box and chipped a shot over a sliding save attempt into the lower right corner to make it 2-0 17 seconds later.
 
That score would be the one that took the match to halftime as Gaby Guerrero's two looks in the final minutes of the half to make it 3-0 were spoiled by the left post and a miss high over the crossbar.
 
That third goal didn't take long to go on the board in the second half, coming thanks to Bella Campos in the 54th minute. Playing the ball out of their defensive third, the Orediggers took the ball up the far side of the field with Lauren Clingman passing ahead to Afton Rasco out near midfield. Rasco did her part, evading three defenders on her way up the field before passing it up to Campos where she split two defenders before chipping a right-footed shot over another sliding save try from Lopp that sailed into the net to extend the lead to three.
 
As the shots kept coming for Mines, one from the Cougars in the 62nd minute did find its way through to Allie Lundgren but the soft shot from Noelle Mingo was handled with ease to preserve the shutout. After a series of substitutions for both teams, CCU's Ella Salsberry was whistled for a foul just past the Oredigger's bench on the far side of the field. Jiricek keyed things back into play from beyond 30 yards out with a beauty of a ball into the box, finding Ava Harman as she cut in front of a defender and getting enough of a head on the pass to send it toward goal and off the hands of Lopp to run the lead to 4-0.
 
Both side played out the stretch by emptying their benches with the Mines reserves looking to get in on the action as well. Paola Rubi rattled the frame with a well-struck shot off the far post in the 66th minute as for the moment, the difference held at four. Another of those late substitutions ended up with perhaps the moment of the match on a night where there were many to pick from. In the 79th minute, Ariana Ahumada's shot inside the box was blocked off the hand of a Colorado Christian defender, resulting in a penalty kick being awarded. The redshirt sophomore from Phoenix stepped out to take the shot and after strong run up, uncorked a shot toward to near post that got some piece off Lopp, but not enough of one as it had enough steam left to roll across the goal line to run the lead to 5-0.
 
More subs followed as the rest of the regulars for Mines called it a night for the final 10 minutes with the likes of Ahumada and Jordan Bowermaster continuing to work until the final countdown with the clock striking zero on the fifth win of the season at Stermole Stadium.
 
NOTABLES
-Manalili's goal was her third of the season has her career year in 2024 continues; she has now scored in three of the last four matches for Mines and recorded a point in four of the previous five contests
-McDermott turned in her 14th goal of the season, marking her sixth goal in the last four matches and stringing together her second four-match scoring streak of the season
-The senior is now one goal shy of tying her career high of 15 from 2022 and now stands at 48 goals and 111 points in her career
-The goals by Manalili and McDermott came just 17 seconds apart, 12 seconds faster than McDermott's 29-second different between goals against Saint Martin's on September 20 for the second-fastest consecutive goals in program history
-Campos' goal was her sixth of the season as she has now scored in consecutive matches on three separate occasions this fall
-Harman got back in the scorebook with her fourth goal of the season and seventh of her career
-Ahumada capped the scoring with the first goal of her collegiate career in her 2024 debut and seventh career appearance
-Jiricek continued her strong play of late, recording two more assists to raise her season tally to three and setting a new single-season best in doing so
-Rasco notched her third assist of the season and first in almost a month, tying her previous season high that came in her freshman season of 2022
-Allyson Townsend checked in late in the second half, making her collegiate debut and logging seven minutes
-Gabriela Rodríguez played a career-high 31 minutes
-Finley Ewald made her season debut as well, logging eight minutes
-The Orediggers put up 32 shots in the match for their fourth match with 30+ shots this season while limiting the Cougars to just five, marking the 10th time this season they've held the opposition to single-digit shots
-Mines improved to 28-0-1 all-time against Colorado Christian and 15-0-0 at Stermole Stadium
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers take on #RV MSU Denver Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stermole Stadium.
 
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.