GOLDEN, Colo. – Looking to rebound from a tough decision Thursday night, the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team lined up opposite league leader UCCS Sunday at Stermole Stadium for Senior Day. Looking to send their six seniors off proper the Orediggers (3-9-4, 2-7-0) looked to stage a second half comeback attempt, but an early three-goal deficit was too much to overcome as the Mountain Lions (9-4-4, 7-1-1) took the result 3-1.
 
UCCS, with the RMAC regular season title on the line, wasted no time taking control of the match, taking aim early and often at goal as Caden Allaire and the defense got plenty of early work. Unfortunately, a six-minute sequence starting the 17th minute saw the Mountain Lions surge to a three-goal advantage.
 
Starting in the 17th minute, Miles Seminario headed home a corner kick from Eduardo Macias to open the scoring. Less than a minute later, Nick Walker scored on a volley from the near side thanks to Sean Belzer to quickly make it 2-0. In the 23rd minute, another corner kick from Diego Macias was headed home by Colorado Mesa transfer Dimitrious Leonoglou as Mines found themselves a little shell-shocked at the suddenness of staring down a 3-0 deficit.
 
After halftime, the Orediggers looked to rally over the final 45 minutes and looked like a different team in the second half. Charlie Newberry looked to start the rally in the 63rd minute on a corner kick but his header was saved by a UCCS defender. Following a save by Hugo Sjoberg over a header by J McGill, Newberry cashed in his second opportunity, heading home a ball to the near post off a volley by Lucas Taitt to make it 3-1 inside 15 minutes to play. With time drawing short, Mines looked to mount another rally down the stretch but UCCS dashed any hopes of a comeback as they held on for the win and claimed at least a share of the RMAC title.
 
NOTABLES
-Mines honored their six seniors prior to the start of the match, as Tommy Jernigan, Marc Levin, Abou Bakar Berthe, Maxwell Stultz, Simon Carricaburu and Caden Allaire will be calling it a career at season's end
-Carricaburu made his first career start in a Mines uniform Sunday and played 18 minutes
-Allaire made his first start and second appearance of the season, recording two saves in 23:58 of action
-Newberry scored his fourth goal of the season to take over the team lead in that category
-Taitt added to his team-leading assist total with his eighth of the season and following the conclusion of play Sunday, is tied for second in the RMAC in assists
-Kiernan DiBella posted two saves in relief of Allaire as he helped direct a second half shutout in which UCCS had just one shot attempt
-Nine different players attempted a shot in the match, led by Newberry and Kian Mueller with two each
 
UP NEXT
Having been eliminated from postseason contention, the Orediggers will close the book on the 2025 season at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Regis.
 
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.