Mines (6-9-2, 5-2-2) vs. MSU Denver (7-7-3, 4-3-2) – Wednesday, 2 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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REGULAR SEASON WRAP-UP
The 18th and final regular season match for the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team will see them take on a local foe for the second time in 2024 as MSU Denver makes the return trip to Golden Wednesday afternoon in a bout that will go a long way in determining seeding for both teams in the approaching 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship.
 
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
As announced Monday, Wednesday's match with the Roadrunners has been moved up to 2 p.m. in an effort to allow for more suitable playing conditions. After getting the first snowfall of the season Monday, another one to three inches is in the forecast for Wednesday with highs hovering right around the freezing mark during the day and plummeting once the sun sinks behind the mountains.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Admission Wednesday will be free of charge to all spectators. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot K immediately to the north of Stermole Stadium, or the parking garage on Maple Street. 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 for both matches. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
WEEK 9 RECAP
Mines won their lone action last week, going on the road Thursday to Lakewood to take on Colorado Christian. In a contest in which the teams combined for just 10 shots, Mines came out on top thanks to an 84th minute goal from none other than Ayman Bushara with help from Raul Gerhardus. Caden Allaire returned to starting duties in goal, posting two saves in his first shutout of the season
 
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 95-34-20 (.703) overall and 66-9-10 in RMAC action 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 among the top 10 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.
 
Nationally Lynn and Charleston remained 1-2 while UCCS surged up two spots into third. Coker and Southern New Hampshire also debuted in the top five this week, with the former going from seventh to fourth and the latter going sixth to fifth. CSU Pueblo gained just one spot moving up to #15 while Fort Lewis moved up two positions to #17.
 
AMAZIN' AYMAN
Over the last six matches, Ayman Bushara has arguably been one of, if not the, hottest players in the RMAC. After netting the game-winner Thursday at Colorado Christian, the Air Force transfer now has a team-leading eight goals, a mark which is also tied with four other players for second in the conference. Throw in three assists this season as well and in his first season of action since the fall of 2021, the Aurora native has certainly put on a show and made a name for himself in a Mines uniform.
 
THIS SEEMS GOOD
After returning to play in October after missing some time with injury early in the season, Raul Gerhardus has been another major contributor for Mines during their recent run. The redshirt junior has scored in three of the last five matches and assisted in two of the last three contests for Mines and now has 11 points on the season. Gerhardus has played 11 matches this season so if you do that math, that comes out to an average of one point per match on the season. In matches where Gerhardus registers a point this season, Mines is 3-1-1. Additionally, the Wichita native is also averaging a point per match for his career with 16 points in 16 matches thanks to a pair of goals and an assist in five contests at the end of 2023.
 
POSTSEASON POSITIONING
Following the conclusion of action Sunday, the field for the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship was set. All that remains now is determining the seeding and matchups and Wednesday's five contests will do just that. CSU Pueblo, Regis, UCCS, Fort Lewis, Mines and MSU Denver will comprise the six-team field in this year's edition of the event.
 
The CSUP currently lead things with 22 points and will travel to UCCS, who has 20 points. Regis will make the short trip over to Colorado Christian looking to add to their tally of 21 points. Fort Lewis remains in contention for a top two seed with 19 points, as they will host Adams State. Meanwhile Mines and MSU Denver tangle with 17 and 14 points respectively.
 
With so many possible outcomes and seeding scenarios that would deserve a document all its own, we'll just say this: the possibilities abound as to where and who the Orediggers will go and play.
 
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
The last four weeks, Mines has been one of the hottest teams in the country. Over their last seven matches, the Orediggers are 5-0-2 and enter Wednesday's match with the Roadrunners on a four-game winning streak. During this recent run, Mines has outscored teams 18-6 and posted shutouts in three of their last four matches. After shaking off the struggles of one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules, the Silver and Blue seem to found themselves playing their best soccer of the season at the time when it matters the most.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
Ayman Bushara and Peter Saunders can count themselves in several places among the RMAC leaders heading into the regular season finale. For Bushara, he's tied for second in the league with eight goals while his 19 points are tied for fourth and his two game-winning goals are tied for seventh. Saunders meanwhile ranks third in save percentage at .786 and saves per game at 4.40, tied for seventh in saves with 44, seventh in goals against average at 1.36 and ninth in shutouts with two.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Nine different players have scored in 2024 for Mines led by Ayman Bushara with eight goals and three assists for 19 points. Raul Gerhardus and Gabriel Rodriguez each have four goals and three assists while Quin Collins has three and two.
 
John Burnett and freshman Smith Russell have both scored once while assisting twice while Abou Bakar Berthe, Luke Hanna and Jimmy Koufidakis round out the scoring. Marc Zimmermann has two assists to his tally while Bakar Berthe, Josh Ary, Caelin David, Jaden Igarta, Kian Mueller and Noah Roles all have one.
 
Peter Saunders was out last week against CCU but still enters the week with a 1.36 GAA and a .786 save rate in 796 minutes with 44 saves against 12 goals allowed with two shutouts against 124 shots faced. Caden Allaire posted his first shutout of the season and improved his numbers against the Cougars and now has a GAA of 1.96 and a .673 save percentage in 734 minutes with 33 saves against 16 goals allowed against 111 shots.
 
On the season Mines is now just -4 in goal differential at 28-24 and is now averaging 1.41 goals and 11.2 shots per match while allowing 1.65 goals and 13.8 shots to opponents. They have 23 assists on their 24 goals and are 2-2 on penalties this season. They have 77 combined saves in goal and taken 93 corner kicks. Defensively they have been whistled for 178 fouls, issued 28 cautions and handed one ejection.
 
SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners enter play Wednesday looking to improve their standing as the current sixth seed in the RMAC Tournament and will do so after alternating wins and losses over their last five matches. A 2-0 win over Colorado Christian on the road Sunday was preceded in order by a win over South Dakota Mines, a loss to Regis, a win over Adams State and a high-scoring loss to then #13 Fort Lewis.
 
10 different Roadrunners have scored in 2024 led by Dallas Baer with four along with three assists for 11 points, tied for the most on the team. Luke Bone also has 11 points to his ledger, scoring three times and recording a team-best five assists, one of which came against Mines earlier this season. One of Nicco Schiappa's three goals this season came in that September meeting with Mines while two other Roadrunners, Charlie Matsumoto and Zack Williams, also have three goals each and round out the multi-goal contributors for MSUD.
 
Five other players have a single goal to their credits this season including Brendan O'Toole who also scored the first time this season against Mines. The Landry brothers of Cooper and Parker each have three assists with the latter recording one of his back in September in the non-conference finale between the two teams. Along with Schiappa, a further five Roadrunners have one assist in 2024.
 
In goal, Nick McNeil has played every minute of the 17 matches for MSUD this fall. In 1,530 minutes, he has a 1.24 GAA and made 60 saves against 21 goals allowed for a .741 save rate and has seven shutouts this season.
 
For the season, MSU Denver is +1 in scoring at 22-21 and averages 1.29 goals and 12.1 shots per game while allowing 1.24 goals and 11.0 shots to opposing teams. They have 20 assists on their 22 goals and have 61 saves defensively. They have taken 86 corner kicks and are 1-2 on penalty kicks, while defensively have been whistled for 171 fouls and assessed 20 cautions.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines leads the all-time series 47-36-10 following a 3-1 loss in the first meeting of the season back on September 29 in Denver. That loss snapped a nine-match unbeaten streak by the Orediggers who had gone 7-0-2 over that span. All-time at home, Mines is 23-19-2 and last hosted MSU Denver on September 26, 2021 winning 4-0. The Orediggers' last loss in Golden to the Roadrunners came back on October 1, 2017 by a tally of 1-0.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
With the six teams who will comprise the 2024 RMAC Men's Soccer Championship cemented, Wednesday's matches across the league will determine matchups and seeding for the opening rounds. Mines will wait and see where they'll be and who they'll play following the conclusion of the day's five matches.
 
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.