GOLDEN, Colo. – On a day where numerous matches were impacted by the first blast of wintry weather Wednesday, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team made the most of the conditions as they closed out their 2024 regular season slate at home against MSU Denver in the second of two meetings between the teams. In a match in which snow never stopped falling and conditions were a challenge all night, it was the Orediggers (7-9-2, 6-2-2) led by Raul Gerhardus who outlasted the Roadrunners (7-8-3, 4-4-2) to run their winning streak to five matches with a 4-3 victory.
 
With conditions somewhat favorable and a relatively clean pitch to start the match, Mines pressed home their attack right away as Ayman Bushara and Quin Collins took aim in the opening minutes and put Nick McNeil to the test early. Just over a minute after making the save on the shot by Collins, McNeil wasn't able to do the same on a chip from Raul Gerhardus. John Burnett set the play up with a ball ahead to Gerhardus from the edge of the center circle. The Wichita native gathered and made a move to beat the first defender before pulling up from just inside the 18-yard line and slipping a shot between to defenders to the back post past McNeil for the opening tally as he celebrated with a leap into the snowbanks surrounding the field.
 
Peter Saunders tallied his first saves of the night in the eighth and 10th minutes after the restart as MSUD looked to counter with shots from Noah Hannula an Luke Bone but came up empty with both attempts.
 
As the snow started to fall harder, the Orediggers continued to pressure the Roadrunners with the second goal of the night coming in the 15th minute off a Gerhardus corner kick. Taking the kick out of the far corner, Gerhardus played a low line drive to the corner of the six-yard box, finding the foot of Charlie Newberry who tucked a shot neatly inside the back post to double the lead to 2-0.
 
Not long after MSUD kicked things back off, they got on the board in the 22nd minute thanks to Luke Bone. A scramble drill inside the penalty area saw the ball deflect around off several played before settling at the feet of Charlie Matsumoto who played a quick touch back to Bone from 16 yards out to cut the lead to 2-1.
 
Both sides attempted just a handful more shots as the half went on and conditions started to deteriorate further with the first 45 minutes coming and going with Mines ahead by a goal.
 
After taking the halftime break to pop into their locker room and attempt to warm up at least a little for the final period of the regular season, Gerhardus led a renewed attack to open the half with two shots on goal in the first eight minutes as McNeil was up to the task on both to make the saves.
 
As the snow continued to fall and the playing surface becoming increasingly blanketed with snow, the Roadrunners leveled the score at 2-2 in the 71st minute. Parker Landry played a cross from the near side of the field back to center for Zack Williams, who headed a shot past Saunders for the equalizer.
 
With the score now even, Mines went back on the attack and wasted little time regaining their lead in the 75th minute. A foul against Jonas Votaw about 26 yards away from goal set up a free kick for Gerhardus. Staring down a tightly-packed wall of five Roadrunners, Gerhardus laced a shot to his left of the defense that was saved by McNeil, but the rebound came back into play and was cleaned up by Jimmy Koufidakis with a sliding finish to regain the lead 3-2.
 
MSU Denver leveled things for a second time in the 82nd minute as this time Landry was on the business of a goal, scoring with a header off a corner kick from Bone to make it 3-3 as it seemed with snow still falling, the result of the night would be a draw.
 
Fortunately for the hearty fans who stuck it out through the cold and snow, Mines had one more opportunity to regain the lead in the 88th minute and did not miss. After Gerhardus was fouled on the other side of midfield by Phillie Villapudua, Caelin David lined up for the free kick to resume action. His volley down field was headed up initially by a Roadrunner defender before being headed down by Gerhardus to Ayman Bushara, who quickly pirouetted and fired past a diving McNeil and into the net to regain the lead, this time for good.
 
The Roadrunners had one last chance following the ensuing kickoff, as Williams' took a shot on a hard angle from the far side that had a chance, but rolled across the crossbar and back into play before being cleared away by the Mines defense one final time to close out a wild and memorable 4-3 win.
 
NOTABLES
-Gerhardus turned in the performance of his career in the winning effort, scoring his sixth goal of the season and recording three assists to finish the night with five points
-Gerhardus becomes the fourth player to tie the single-game record of three assists in a match in program history, last done by Lucas King in 2019 at Colorado Christian
-Newberry scored his first collegiate goal in the match on his eighth shot of the season
-Koufidakis scored his second goal in the last three matches and did so in just an eight-minute stint off the bench in the second half
-Bushara ran his scoring streak to seven matches with his ninth score of the season and third game-winner, surpassing John Haist's mark of six consecutive games with a goal back in 2017
-Bushara also took over sole possession of second in the RMAC with nine goals this season
-Saunders ended the night with two saves in goal
-For the evening, Mines outshot MSU Denver 22-12 and 10-5 in shots on goal with 11 different players attempting a shot
-With other results from around the conference, the Orediggers earn the fifth seed in the 2024 RMAC Tournament
 
UP NEXT
Mines will head to fourth-seeded UCCS Sunday for a quarterfinal matchup in the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship. The winner of that match will face second-seeded Regis Wednesday November 13 in Denver.
 
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.