Coming off of two hard losses against Fort Lewis and Metro State, the Orediggers needed a win against a Colorado Mesa University (CMU). They played hard with heart, coming from behind to defeat CMU 4-2.
Mines opened Sunday’s game against CMU with an intensity that had seemed to be missing as of late. They controlled the ball early, and were only limited by some communication issues in the front line that prevented a couple of early goals.
But the Orediggers got their chance in the 23rd minute after one of their forwards was taken down in the box by a CMU, resulting in a penalty kick that Alex Nass successfully converted for the 1-0 lead.
The score would remain like this for much of the first half until CMU converted two late chances in the 38th and 41st minutes, leaving the Orediggers down 1-2 as they went into halftime. CMU out-shot Mines nine to six, and they had four shots on goal versus the Oredigger’s two.
The momentum of the game shifted three minutes into the second half when CMU’s Jay Cort was given his second yellow card, resulting in a red card being shown and he was forced to leave the match. Additionally, CMU was forced to play down a man for the rest of the match.
Playing with a man advantage, CSM came out and attacked early and often. While the shots initially refused to go in, Phillip Wilson hooked a free kick into the goal in the 67th minute to tie the game at 2-2. Continuing the aggressive strategy, Sean Ogunmodede and Tesho Akindele added goals in the 83rd and 88th minute to seal a 4-2 victory for CSM.
Overall, the Orediggers were quite pleased with how everything turned out. Head coach Frank Kohlenstein had this to say after the match, “We’re happy with the result. It’s always big to get 3 points here in RMAC play. [CMU] is a tough opponent, but we managed to pull it out in the end.” The win pushes Mines to 7-3 overall, and 5-2 in conference play. This coming week they face the prospect of three games in a week: a home game against Colorado Christian followed by two away games against University of Colorado – Colorado Springs and Adams St.