Mines (1-7-0) vs. #4 UCCS (7-0-1) – Thursday, 6 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
Mines (1-7-0) vs. #20 CSU Pueblo (5-2-1) – Sunday, 12 p.m.– Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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CONFERENCE ACTION KICKS OFF
Looking to put the first eight games of 2024 behind them, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team turns their focus to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action starting Thursday night at 6 p.m. as they welcome #4 UCCS to Stermole Stadium before closing out week one of league play Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. against #20 CSU Pueblo.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online in advance at minesathletics.com/tickets or at the gate on the day of the match. Mines students, faculty and staff will be admitted for free with their BlasterCard. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot K immediately to the north of Stermole Stadium. Fans as are not allowed to park in the neighborhood surrounding the Clear Creek Athletic Complex, as the City of Golden's street parking requires a permit seven days a week.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available through Sidearm for both matches. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
WEEK 4 RECAP
Mines looked to build some momentum against a couple of familiar foes in their final non-conference action of the season against Regis and MSU Denver, but were unable to do so in a pair of losses by scores of 2-0 and 3-1.
 
Thursday, two early goals by the Rangers ended up being too much to overcome while on Sunday, an early lead was not indicative of how things would proceed as Ayman Bushara teamed up with Marc Zimmermann for his second goal of the season just 76 seconds into the action, but three unanswered goals for the Roadrunners before the break led them to the win.
 
RULES RESET
It wasn't too long ago that the NCAA implemented new changes to the soccer rules with the last set of changes coming in 2022. Now in 2024, there's been more tweaks to the rulebook, including at least a partial revision of one of the 2022 changes. First up is an adjustment to the substitution rules in the second half and overtime, when applicable. To avoid clock manipulation by teams that are ahead or teams that are tied late in a match, all substitutions within the final 15 minutes of regulation and any made during overtime will result in the clock being stopped. The second change affects overtime during the postseason, as sudden victory (otherwise known as the "Golden Goal") has been reinstated. In addition, video review has been expanded to review all penalty kick situations, all straight red cards events, denial of obvious goal-scoring opportunity situations and any potential offside violations in goal-scoring situations.
 
THE SKIPPER
With a record of 90-32-18 (.707) overall and 61-7-8 in RMAC action over his first seven seasons at the helm in Golden, skipper Greg Mulholland has established himself as one of the top head coaches not just in Division II, but the NCAA as a whole. An assistant with the Orediggers from 2007-2016 who served as interim head coach in 2017 before having the interim tag dropped in 2018, Mulholland ranks third among active Division II coaches with a minimum of five years on the job in winning percentage and is 15th across the entirety of NCAA Soccer. Under his direction, Mines has claimed a combined 11 regular season and postseason championships, running off six consecutive regular season crowns from 2017-22 and four tournament titles from 2017-20. Mulholland is also a four-time RMAC Coach of the Year and has twice headed up the United Soccer Coaches Regional Staff of the Year.
 
WEARING THE ARMBAND
For the second consecutive year, Caelin David will serve as a captain for the Orediggers and be joined by goalie Caden Allaire and striker Gabriel Rodriguez.
 
David, a senior from Alpharetta, Georgia, has been a staple in the starting lineup for Mines each of the last two seasons, starting all 38 matches over that span after appearing as a reserve in nine matches as a freshman in 2021. He scored his first two career goals in 2023 and has five career points heading into 2024.
 
Allaire has emerged as a locker room leader heading into his second season at Mines after transferring into the program for the 2023 season. An RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week honoree last October, he started all 16 matches in which he played for more than 1,400 minutes and recorded 56 saves, a 1.60 GAA and a .691 save percentage while going 4-6-6 with three shutouts.
 
Rodriguez, who earned his captaincy just last week, appeared in 51 matches with 14 starts over his first three seasons as an Oredigger and scoring 11 goals with five assists including two game-winners in over 2,100 career minutes played.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines was tabbed to finish fifth in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll back on August 15, earning 63 points on the ballot. The national runners-up each of the last two seasons, CSU Pueblo was picked to win the league with eight first place votes while defending champion Fort Lewis earned three first place ballots to place second. Colorado Mesa and UCCS rounded out the top five in third and fourth.
 
Tuesday's national poll saw Lynn remain atop the rankings followed by Cal State Los Angeles, Charleston and UCCS all moving up one spot in the top five to second, third and fourth respective while Limestone entered the top five. CSU Pueblo dropped to #20 while Fort Lewis rose to #11 and Colorado Mesa continued to earn votes.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Gabriel Rodriguez and Ayman Bushara share to top spot on the leaderboard this season when it comes to scoring with two goals apiece while Luke Hanna has one. Bushara John Burnett, Quin Collins, Jaden Igarta, Kian Mueller and Marc Zimmermann have all logged an assist on those goals.
 
Between the pipes, Caden Allaire leads the way with 630 minutes in eight games with seven starts, posting 31 saves against 16 goals allowed for a GAA of 2.29 and a .660 save percentage against 105 shots. Peter Saunders is up to 90 minutes on the season after coming on at halftime Sunday and has six saves against three goals allowed in his two appearances of the season.
 
On the season, Mines is -14 in goal differential at 19-5 and is averaging 0.63 goals and 10.4 shots per contest. Opponents meanwhile are averaging 2.38 and 15.0 in those categories. The Orediggers have been whistled for 82 fouls and issued six yellow cards with one red. They have six assists on their five goals, 37 combined saves, have taken 45 corner kicks and have yet to be issued a PK in 2024.
 
SCOUTING UCCS
The Mountain Lions have been almost flawless to start the season, their lone blemish being a 1-1 draw on opening night against Cal State San Marcos as they enter league action winners of seven in a row including a pair of 2-1 wins over Colorado Mesa and CSU Pueblo in non-conference action last week.
 
Eight players have scored for UCCS in 2024, with half of them scoring two or more goals led by Dani Barajas with five goals, doing so on just 11 shots. Nick Walter has four goals and is 3-3 on penalties this fall while Miles Semenario has three goals and is one of three players with two assists. Cole Venable rounds out the group with two goals and an assist for five points.
 
Soulo Letsoalo, who also has two assists, along with Dillon Clark, Adin Schwenke and Rory Scott round out the scoring for the Mountain Lions. Macias Diego has two assists alongside Seminario and Letsoalo while an additional four players have an assist.
 
Russell Soren has played every minute of every game in goal, logging 720 minutes with 22 saves against seven goals while facing 72 shots for a GAA of 0.88 and a .759 save rate with one shutout.
 
On the season, UCCS is +11 in scoring at 18-7 and averages 2.25 goals and 14.0 shots per game while allowing 0.88 goals and 9.0 shots to opposing teams. They have been issued 12 cautions and committed 76 fouls while taking 76 corner kicks. They lead the RMAC in both penalty kicks awarded with seven and conversions with six.
 
SCOUTING CSU PUEBLO
After being national runners up for the second year in a row in 2023, CSU Pueblo is off to another solid start in 2024, but enters RMAC action after playing Fort Lewis to a 2-2 draw and losing to the aforementioned UCCS. They'll take on MSU Denver Thursday before making the trip to Golden Sunday.
 
All-American Caio Oliveira is back and leads the team in scoring with four goals and seven assists and is 3-3 on PKs. Shjon Andrews has featured more prominently this season, scoring three times to match his total from a year ago and adding an assist for seven points. Giancarlo Pretto and Dylan Zavatini each have two goals to their credit while a further four ThunderWolves each have a single goal.
 
Ignatius DeMark is second behind Oliveira with three assists while three of the four single-goal scorers, Tobi Osifodunrin, Jack Pascoe and George Tidmarsh, each have an assist as does Ruben Marquez.
 
Ruben Volkert has been the main man in goal this season, returning to action Sunday in the loss to UCCS but still posts a 4-2-0 record with three shutouts against 28 shots faced, making 12 saves and allowing four goals for a 0.73 GAA and a .750 save rate in 495 minutes. Ryan Nun follows with 135 minutes of action, starting once in two outings with one save and one goals allowed against seven shots, while Tristan Whitlock has two saves against two goals allowed in his 90 minutes of action against eight shots.
 
As a unit, CSU Pueblo is +8 in scoring at 15-8 and averages 1.88 goals on 13.9 shots per contest while allowing 0.88 goals on a mere 5.4 shots. They have been issued 13 cautions with one red card and committed 84 fouls. They have taken 57 corners and are 3-3 on penalties.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday night marks the 70th all-time meeting between Mines and UCCS with the Orediggers ahead in the series 50-15-4 and 28-6-2 when playing at home. The teams played to a scoreless draw last season in Colorado Springs, snapping a 10-match winning streak by the Orediggers. Mines has not lost a match in the series since a 1-0 decision in Colorado Springs in 2014 and is 6-0-0 at Stermole Stadium since then.
 
Sunday afternoon will be the 64th meeting of the Orediggers and ThunderWolves with Mines leading 42-14-7 all-time and sporting a 24-6-2 record at home. CSU Pueblo has had the advantage in recent seasons though winning five of the last nine meetings including a 3-0 contest in Pueblo last season. But the last two times the team have played in Golden, the result has been different with a 1-0 Mines win in non-conference action last fall and a 10-9 win in a penalty shootout of the 2022 RMAC Tournament title match.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Mines hits the road for their next four matches starting next weekend when they'll head west to take on Colorado Mesa and Westminster on October 10 & 13.
 
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.