GOLDEN, Colo. – The #13 Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team put together a complete performance from start to finish Sunday afternoon in game two of a doubleheader from Stermole Stadium, controlling from start to finish in a 4-0 win over Western Colorado on Senior Day.
Bella Campos scored a pair of goals for the Orediggers (9-2-1, 6-1-0) and was joined in the scoring column by
Afton Rasco and
Annelise Rojo while
Allie Lundgren and
Emma Thomas combined for the shutout of the Mountaineers (1-10-3, 1-3-3) in goal to complete the weekend sweep.
Western Colorado took the first shots of the afternoon, the second of which was saved by Lundgren, but it was the Orediggers who netted the first goal in the 17th minute. As the Mountaineers tried to advance the ball ahead,
Natalie Rouse broke up a pass with a header to
Gaby Guerrero who played it wide to
Lindsay Jeans. Jeans and Rasco played a quick give-and-go on the far side of the field with the former getting it back just behind the center line and playing a well-placed ball ahead to Campos. Flanked by a pair of defenders, Campos collected and dribbled to the top of the 18 before shooting away toward the back post and off the fingers of Aubree Orosco for the opening goal of the match.
Mines doubled their lead in the 29th minute after penalty kick was awarded following a take down of
Kaitlyn Manalili inside the box as she went up to contest a header. Rasco stepped to the spot and lined a strike to the near post to quickly make it a 2-0 lead.
The third goal of the match came just over three minutes later in the 32nd minute. Rasco played a tremendous ball from the near side of the field just above the far corner of the six to a cutting Rojo, who finished on the back post after slipping behind the defense for her second goal of the season to make it 3-0 Mines heading to halftime.
Coming out to start the second half, the Orediggers needed just 4:45 to find the net for a fourth time. Following a turnover by WCU as they looked to enter their attacking third, Mines countered the other way as Gabriela Rodríguez played a tremendous long ball into the far corner, where it was run down by Manalili. Manalili backed down a defender as she worked the endline before crossing from the edge of the box to the top of the six on the near post to find Campos, who managed to get just enough of a foot on the ball while sliding to the turf to tuck a shot past Orosco and make it a 4-0 lead.
Looking to get back in contention, Western Colorado redoubled their efforts on their attack. Tawny Roberts took aim in the 55th minute with no luck before Caitlin Mazurek tried twice in the final 20 minutes but second-year freshman
Emma Thomas handled all three shots with ease, making some spectacular saves in her home debut to keep the visitors off the board.
As the shadows grew longer and time grew shorter, both sides went to their benches to play out the stretch as the Orediggers continued their winning ways with a 4-0 shutout on Senior Day.
NOTABLES
-Sunday was the third two-goal performance of the season by Campos, who now has 10 goals on the season to reclaim the top spot in the RMAC in goals scored; the junior now stands at 40 career goals, taking over fourth place in the all-time records from Megan Woodworth (2009-12) to become just the fourth player in program history to reach 40 goals
-Campos also has now scored 10 or more goals in each of her three seasons in Golden and is now just six points shy of 100 in her career as she looks to become the fifth Oredigger to reach that milestone
-Rasco netted three points on her senior day, scoring on the penalty kick before registering an assist for the third consecutive match to raise her season total to six as she now has 17 goals and 14 assists for 48 points in her career to break into the top 10 all-time
-Manalili snapped an eight-match point drought with her fourth assist of the season and 13th of her career
-Rojo scored for the second consecutive Sunday in 46 minutes off the bench
-Jeans netted a point for the second time in her last three outings as she recorded her first career assist in 35 minutes of action
-Lundgren and Thomas combined the clean sheet in goal, with the former logging one save in the first half before the latter posted three against a resurgent effort by WCU in the second half
-
Kate Hendrickson and
Carly Walter made their Stermole Stadium debuts in their second collegiate appearances
UP NEXT
Mines is back home for two more matches next weekend starting Friday with a match that looms large for the RMAC regular season title against Colorado Mesa October 24 at 6 p.m. following by a match with Westminster on October 26 at 1 p.m.
Fans can keep up with Mines women's soccer on X 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.