ALAMOSA, Colo. – Kicking off roughly 19 hours later than originally scheduled, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team overcame the postponement from Thursday and subsequent early start Friday to post a 3-1 win over Adams State. After falling behind the Grizzlies (1-12-1, 0-7-0) midway through the first half, the Orediggers (3-6-4, 2-4-0) rallied for three unanswered goals by the freshman trio of Avi Levin, J McGill and Hudson Waddell to post their first road win of the season.
 
Adams State took the lead in the 21st minute when Avery Richards played a ball from midfield on the near side ahead and back to center for Eric Kidson, who slipped behind the Mines defense. Kiernan DiBella came out to challenge as the last line of defense and managed to get a piece of the left-footed shot by Kidson, but not quite enough as the ball managed to carry on and tuck inside the near post for the goal.
 
Mines leveled the score in the 32nd minute thanks to Avi Levin. After being awarded a corner kick, Hudson Waddell keyed things back in out of the far corner and found Noah Roles in the center of the box. Roles headed a shot down toward goal that was saved, but deflected back out toward the younger Levin on the near post where he tapped it in to tie the match at 1-1.
 
As time wound down in the opening half, the Orediggers picked up the pace and pressed home their attack looking to take an advantage to the intermission. Roles had another crack at goal off a corner kick in the 41st minute but was again turned away by Lars Ostermann. Luke Hanna also took aim in the closing minutes of the period as did Kian Mueller with a last second shot, but both came away with nothing to show for it as the first 45 minutes ended with the teams level on the scoreboard.
 
Shortly after play resumed in the second half, J McGill had a chance to score with a lunging header off a cross from Cody O'Brien from the far side of the field, but his point blank shot was saved by Ostermann.
 
Tim Mietenkorte, who assisted on a goal against Mines last season, took aim against DiBella in the 55th minute but the freshman handled the shot to the near post, knocking it clear for the save.
 
Jaden Igarta took aim in the 68th minute as Mines countered off a turnover following an ASU free kick, but while his shot looked good Ostermann again made the save to keep the match level.
 
Abou Bakar Berthe had a pair of looks in succession in the 74th minute, first off a free kick that was saved to the back post by Ostermann, then a second as Mines gathered the rebound and worked the ball back around from the near side as the second shot was saved on the near post.
 
Persistence finally dividends for the Orediggers as the clock ticked inside 10 minutes. In the 81st minute, Mines intercepted a clear attempt by the Grizzlies and methodically worked the ball around and back out to the center circle for Alex Gonzalez. With the center of the field wide-open all the way to the top of the box, Gonzalez dashed ahead to the top of the arc before slipping a pass to McGill, who one-timed a shot to the corner on the back post and in for the go-ahead score.
 
Just over a minute after the restart, Mines struck again following an Adams State turnover in the center circle. Hudson Waddell provided the disruption as the ball settled at the feet of Avi Levin. The freshman tandem both turned up field as Levin slipped a pass between the legs of a defender to Waddell, who took a couple of touches to gather before shooting past Ostermann to score make it 3-1 Orediggers.
 
Following the consecutive goals, Adams State had no answer for Mines. The Orediggers managed to work the clock and prevent any chances at all for momentum to shift the other way. The final moments of the match did see a flurry of cards as well as the ejection of an Adams State player in the 89th minute, but none of those action did little to affect the result as Mines picked up their first road win of the season.
 
NOTABLES
-Levin's goal was his first of the season and of his career and came in his sixth career match; the freshman also added an assist for his second of the season on the third goal of the afternoon
-McGill's game-winner was the first such goal of his career and third goal of the season as he's now scored in consecutive matches for the first time
-Waddell also scored the first goal of his career to cap the scoring after missing action last Sunday
-Roles was credited with an assist on the goal by Levin for his first of the season and the second of his career, bringing his career point total to four
-Gonzalez picked up his first assist of the season on the McGill goal to notch his first point of the season and the fourth of his career
-DiBella ended the day with five saves in goal
-Ethan Huet and McGill each made their first career starts Friday morning
-Mines outshot ASU 12-9 overall in the match, including 6-2 in the second half, and held and 11-6 edge in shots on goal
-The Orediggers improve to 24-1-0 all-time against Adams State and 12-0-0 as the road team
-Friday's match was the first time at least two freshmen scored in the same match since John Burnett and Gabriel Rodriguez did so on September 26, 2021 in a 4-0 win at MSU Denver; it was also the first time three freshmen scored in a match since Burnett, Rodriguez and Grant Bell accomplished the feat in a 6-0 home win over South Dakota Mines on October 15 of that same season
-Following Friday's action, 12 different Orediggers have scored this season with 12 players also registering an assist while nine have done both
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers close out their last weekend on the road Sunday against #19 Fort Lewis in Durango at 1 p.m.
 
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.