ATHERTON, Calif. – The Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team opened their 2026 season Saturday with a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Menlo in their opening match of the Menlo Kickoff Classic. A goal in the first minute put the Orediggers (0-1-0) up early, but an equalizer late in the first half and a go-ahead score by the Oaks (1-0-0) in the waning moments proved to be the difference in the first action of the season.
Mines wasted no time getting the year off to a good start as
Davyan Martinez connected with
Murray Peart just 35 seconds into the action for the first goal of the season. Chances proved hard to come by in the opening half as the teams combined for just three shots in the first 30 minutes of play. The Orediggers looked poised to carry their lead into the intermission, but a 44th minute goal by Harnoor Sidhu from Mattie Klause tied things up at 1-1 after the first half of the season.
Things turned physical in the second half as a combined eight yellow cards were assessed in the final 45 minutes.
Pol Garcia Oliveras had the best scoring chances for the Orediggers down the stretch, while
Noah Hildreth saved a chance by Klause in the final 20 minutes as well. In the 80th minute Menlo netted the go-ahead score as Tim Schwarz made it past Hildreth with help from Marcos Garcia and Janne Spangenberg. A late push by Mines saw
Hudson Waddell with a chance for the equalizer in the 88th minute, but a save by Jaxon Tonley denied the Orediggers they came up just short on the first day of the season.
NOTABLES
-Menlo outshot Mines 13-10 in the match but the Orediggers held a 5-4 edge in shots on goal
-13 Orediggers made their Mines debuts Thursday, with 11 suiting up for the first time in a collegiate match as
Carlo Kobelt,
Djaz Less, Garcia Oliveras, Martinez,
Mason Robledo,
Aidan Wells,
Kaoru Kato, Timothé Strout,
Ashish Gurung,
Marcus Saa and Hildreth all getting the start in their first college action
-Division I transfers
Andrew DeBerardinis and
Murray Peart each played the full time Thursday
-Nine different players attempted a shot for the Orediggers in the match
-Hildreth finished with two saves in goal
UP NEXT
The Orediggers close out their weekend on the West Coast Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. PT against Cal Poly Humboldt.
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.
