GOLDEN, Colo. – Back under the lights at Stermole Stadium Friday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team opened homecoming weekend and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action with a bang, posting a 5-1 win over South Dakota Mines. Four different players scored a goal for the Orediggers (2-2-4, 1-0-0) in the match headlined by two-goal performance by Leo Santana in the second half as they dealt the Hardrockers (5-1-2, 0-1-0) their first loss of the season.
 
From the opening whistle, the Orediggers made it clear that they weren't fazed by the unbeaten record of the Hardrockers entering the night. Jake Macha, making his first career start, along with Hudson Waddell and Marc Levin all took early aim at the reigning RMAC Goalkeeper of the Week Abdo Salem Abdullah in the opening eight minutes.
 
Kiernan DiBella got his first work making a high right save in the 19th minute against Jacob Miklas before Noah Roles broke the seal in the 25th minute. A corner kick by Leo Santana out of the near side was punched clear initially by Salem Abdullah, but gathered up on the far side by Abou Bakar Berthe. The senior played a ball to the top corner of the 18 for Roles, who took a pair of touches before firing a bullet past Salem Abdullah to make it 1-0 early.
 
J McGill had a crack off the bench around three minutes later while the only other shot in the half from the Hardrockers missed high as the first half concluded with the Orediggers up by a goal.
 
Coming out of the locker room, Mines doubled their lead just over eight minutes in the second half thanks to the Levin brothers. Playing together for the first time in their careers at any level, it was Avi Levin who came up with the ball in the Orediggers' attacking third just beyond the center circle. He saw his brother Marc Levin racing up the field and played a pass to the top of the 18, where big brother fired a one-timer off his left foot to the near post to double the lead to 2-0.
 
South Dakota Mines looked to get right back in the thick of things moments later in the 56th minute. Rider Grow secured a loose ball nearly all the way back by his own goal before racing up the center of the field, splitting a pair of Oredigger defenders and playing a long through ball ahead to Nickolas North. North gathered on the far side of the penalty area, took a couple of quick touches and shot across the face of the goal, eluding the reach of Kiernan DiBella as his shot tucked inside the near post to make it a 2-1 match.

With momentum starting to lean the other way in the match, SDM had a golden opportunity to level the score in the 59th minute. After the Orediggers were whistled for a hard challenge on a Hardrocker counter inside the 18, a penalty kick was awarded as Alvin Udoto look for the equalizer. Udoto's run up was clean as he caught DiBella guessing the wrong direction, but found himself unable to convert as his shot missed wide left outside the near post as Mines dodged a potentially game-altering result on the PK.
 
Almost as quickly as the Hardrockers had their chances, the Orediggers manufactured one of their own to make it a two-goal match again in the 63rd minute. Taking advantage of some newly entered SDM substitutions, Mines pressed their attack and ended up with a throw in deep in their attacking end. Lucas Taitt was the one to serve the ball back in play as his long throw sailed deep inside the six, finding Leo Santana on one hop as the freshman headed it home without so much as a challenge to make it a 3-1 game.
 
After SDM reversed their mass subs in the 74th minute in an attempt to remain in contention, McGill made his second-ever collegiate match one to remember. After a foul against the Hardrockers, Brady Scheinfeld played the ensuing free kick from the just on Mines' own side of midfield about 10 yards outside the penalty area going the other way. McGill won the aerial on the first ball before chasing down and winning the second, upon which he immediately fired a shot at goal and past Salem Abdullah to make it a 4-1 game.
 
Santana concluded matters scored in the 83rd minute when another long throw in by Taitt was mishandled by Salem Abdullah and came back out to the freshman. His first shot was blocked point blank by a defender, but the fortuitous rebound came right back to him as he finished on the second try for his second goal of the night to extend the advantage to 5-1.
 
Both sides emptied their benches and played out the stretch during the finals minutes with the decision long decided as the Orediggers picked up their second win of the season to open RMAC play with three points.
 
NOTABLES
-Roles' goal was both his first of the season and first of his career
-Marc Levin's goal was the first of his season and fifth of his career as he now has a pair of goals against the Hardrockers since 2023
-Santana continued his hot play of late, recording his first career multi-goal performance and scoring his second and third goals in his last three matches
-McGill's goal was the first of his career and came in just his second career match as he played a season-high 41 minutes off the bench
-Bakar Berthe recorded his first assist of the season on the Roles goal and now has five points on the fall
-Avi Levin earned the assist on his older brothers goal as he made the start in his collegiate debut and clocked 55 minutes
-Scheinfeld posted his first career assist on the McGill goal
-Taitt recorded his team-leading third assist on the throw-in on the first goal by Santana
-DiBella ended the evening with one save in goal
-Along with the younger Levin, an additional four Orediggers made their debuts Friday night as Simon Carricaburu, Ethan Huet, Aidan Sanchez and Cody O'Brien all checked in during the final minutes of the match
-Josh Ary started in his first appearance of the season and logged 36 minutes
-Macha, making his first career start as well, played 64 minutes and finished with one shot
-The Orediggers outshot the Hardrockers 16-8 overall on the night and 8-2 in shots on frame
-Mines remains undefeated in the all-time series, improving to 12-0-0
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers have the rest of the weekend off as they'll return to action on the road next week at MSU Denver and Colorado Christian.
 
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.