RAPID CITY, S.D. – Coming off a historic rally Thursday night to maintain their road trip momentum, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team headed north Sunday for the fourth of four straight matches away from home as they lined up opposite South Dakota Mines in a critical Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest for both team. After scoring three goals last time out, it took just one for the Orediggers (3-9-2, 2-2-2) to earn the result, as Ayman Bushara teamed up with Marc Zimmermann in the waning moments of the half for the only score of the afternoon to defeat the Hardrockers (1-10-2, 1-3-2) 1-0.
 
While it was Quin Collins who put up the first shot of the day, it was the Hardrockers' Trent Ripley and Hayden Jaramillo that had the first looks at goal on the day inside the first 15 minutes, but came up emptyhanded as Peter Saunders got some early work with two quick saves.
 
Near consecutive looks from Raul Gerhardus around the 19-minute mark were likewise both saved by Daniel Freitas before Kian Mueller was turned away in the 31st minute.
 
With the pace of the match slowing and reserves for both sides coming on late in the opening period, it looked as if it would remain scoreless going into the intermission but that was not to be as Marc Zimmermann led a late push by the offense that was rewarded with a corner kick in the final minute. Zimmermann, one of the regular setup men on set pieces, put things back in motion with a ball to the center of the box just atop the six where Ayman Bushara was waiting to head it home to the back post, leaving Freitas no chance to make the save for what would end up being the go-ahead score with 23 seconds left in the half.
 
A renewed push to try and equalize the match took some time to develop for South Dakota Mines as the Orediggers' defense made chances hard to come by. Starting in the 73rd minute though, SDM started finding some openings as Aydon Ellis, Ripley and Nickolas North all took aim but ended up with nothing to show for their efforts as their tries either missed their mark or found the gloves of Saunders.
 
The last look from North in the 76th minute ended up being the last chance for the Hardrockers to level the match as Mines maintained possession and the advantage for most of the final 14 minutes. Abou Bakar Berthe looked to tack on an insurance goal in the 85th minute to no avail but little difference would it make as the Orediggers ended their longest road stretch of the season the same way they started it in Grand Junction two weeks ago as they returned to the win column with the 1-0 victory.
 
NOTABLES
-Bushara's goal was his team-leading fifth of the season and has now scored in each of the last three matches for the Orediggers
-Zimmermann's assist was his second of the season and now times him along with Bushara and Smith Russell for the team lead
-Peter Saunders recorded the first clean sheet of the season in goal and the second of his career, logging four saves against nine shots faced
-Jimmy Koufidakis returned to the starting lineup, making his fourth of the season and logging a shot in 29 minutes
-Hilmir Arnarsson made his first start of the season and turned in a season-high 41 minutes of action
-Nine different players attempted a shot in the match for Mines
-Mines put up a season-high 18 shots in the match while limiting SDM to just nine on the afternoon, marking the second time in the last four matches the defense held opponents to single digits on the shot chart
-The Orediggers' winning streak against the Hardrockers remains intact as they improve to 11-0-0 in the all-time series
-The eight-point haul on the unbeaten four-match road trip elevates Mines into a tie for fourth in the RMAC standings with MSU Denver with four matches left in the regular season
 
UP NEXT
Mines returns home for three of their final four matches of the season starting Thursday October 24 at 6 p.m. against Fort Lewis.
 
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.