GOLDEN, Colo. – A furious second half effort by the Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team wasn't enough Thursday night at Stermole Stadium as they found themselves on the short end of a 3-2 result against Adams State. Despite the Orediggers (0-11-3, 2-10-1) scoring first, dominating the second half statistically and playing a man up the final 10 minutes, the Grizzlies (2-10-1, 1-6-0) managed to hang on and escape with the win.
The first shot of the night in the sixth minute of action saw Mines strike first.
Hudson Waddell boomed a long ball that was run down near the end line by
Murray Peart, who played it back to the corner of the box for a charging Timothé Strout. The freshman from Ontario buried his shot home in the upper corner on the back post to set the tone for the night.
After three yellow cards in the 11th, 22nd and 29th minutes provided some excitement with aggressive play by both sides, Adams State tied things up when Levi Levin scored. Levin received a cross in from Anthony Benallo, and spun around several Mines defenders to create space before shooting and getting a friendly bounce off the back post and in the 39th minute to knot the action at 1-1. Waddell nearly put the Orediggers back on top in the 41st minute as his header off a corner kick banged off the crossbar. Instead, ASU took the lead in the 43rd minute thanks to Andy Pablo. A through ball from midfield by Hector Herrera to Pablo, both of whom had just entered the match, was shot past a diving block attempt by
Noah Hildreth and in to put the Grizzlies up 2-1 at halftime.
Coming out to start the second half, Mines put their foot on the gas offensively. Several early looks by Peart,
Marco Vecchini and
Pol Garcia Oliveras just missed off target while a shot into the net by Peart in the 51st minute was disallowed by an offsides flag. Shots kept stacking for the Orediggers as Bryan Amezcua did everything he could to maintain the lead for ASU. In the 79th minute, the Grizzlies made it a two-goal game when a failed clear attempt on the end line off a throw in allowed Herrera to slot a pass to Kaidin Reese for a volley that made it 3-1.
Immediately after the kickoff, a pair of Mines shots less than 20 seconds later provided two goldene opportunities to rally. A first shot by Peart was saved by Amezcua with the second-chance ball by
Avi Levin poised to go in but instead was blatantly swatted down by defender Ashton De Luna. Luna's conduct saw him sent off with a red card and Mines awarded a penalty, which Levin converted to make it a 3-2 game with 11:20 to go.
Now playing a man up, the Orediggers kept pressing their attack.
Daniel Bruno's header off a corner kick was snagged by Amezcua, while
Kaoru Kato and Strout both missed just off target as time continued to wind down. A late try by Kato was saved again by Amezcua as the Grizzlies survived the second half onslaught to eke out the result.
NOTABLES
-Strout's goal was the first of his career as he became the sixth different Oredigger to score this fall
-Levin converted his second PK of the season for his fourth goal of the year and is now tied for the team lead in goals scored
-Peart and Waddell were credited with assists on the goal by Strout, their third and first of the year respectively
-Waddell's assist was the first of his career
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Braedan Wallace made his first career appearance at Stermole Stadium in his second career start
-Vecchini made his first career start Thursday night and played a season-high 60 minutes
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Max Robertson made his collegiate debut in the match, coming off the bench for nine minutes late in the first half
-12 players attempted a shot in the match for the Orediggers, led by Kato with a season-high six and Peart with five
-Mines outshot Adams State 29-10 with a season-high shot total while also recording a season-high mark in shots on goal at 10-4; 23 of the 29 shots came in the second half
-The Orediggers scored first in a match for the sixth time this season Thursday night
UP NEXT
Mines hosts #RV Fort Lewis Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stermole Stadium.
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.
