ALAMOSA, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines men's soccer team played to a scoreless draw Wednesday morning in their non-conference road match against Adams State. Forced to play a man down for over half an hour to end the match, the Orediggers (0-5-2) dug in their heels and turned in a stellar defensive effort to keep the Grizzlies (1-3-1) off the scoreboard.
Mines outshot Adams State 5-1 in the opening period, with the only chance for the Grizzlies coming from Angel Avila Sandoval that missed wide left in the seventh minute.
Murray Peart had a pair of shots on goal in the half, one midway through the action in the 28th minute and one late in the 43rd minute that were both saved by Bryan Amezcua.
Avi Levin also had two shots, one of which just missed outside the post in the 34th minute as the action headed to halftime scoreless.
Action and intensity picked up to begin the second half with a flurry of shots and cards being taken by and issued to both teams in the first four minutes. Things reached a fever pitch in the 53rd minute, when Timothé Strout took down an ASU player with a hard challenge close to goal. The freshman was sent off following his second card, having been issued his first yellow in the opening minutes of the period while Adams State prepared for a penalty shot. Jonathan Vazquez-Morales stepped up to take the PK for the Grizzlies, but was rejected by
Kiernan DiBella as he dove to the near post to make the save as action resumed.
Down a man for the final 37 minutes, the Orediggers were forced to redouble their efforts defensively while still trying to manufacture chances on offense. Adams State used their man-up advantage to maintain the majority of possession over the final half hour, but chances remained few thanks to the Mines defense.
Carlo Kobelt, who helped lead the defensive stand, had the last best scoring chance for Mines in the 72nd minute off a corner kick with a back post shot that was saved. The final chance for Adams State came following an 88th minute corner kick as DiBella made the save against Kaidin Reese before the match concluded the same way it started on the scoreboard.
NOTABLES
-DiBella recorded a season-high five saves in goal and recorded his first shutout of the season
-Peart, who had to switch jerseys to #99 over the course of the action, led Mines with three shots and put two on frame
-Six different players took a shot in the match for Mines
-The teams were fairly even on the stat sheet, with ASU holding the small edge in shots (11-10), shots on goal (5-3) and corners (7-6)
-A total of 13 cards were issued during match, with seven yellows and a red being assessed to the Orediggers
UP NEXT
Mines is back at Stermole Stadium Friday night at 6 p.m. to conclude non-conference play against South Dakota Mines for the first of two matchups with the Hardrockers in a span of eight days.
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.
