The No. 13 Lady Oredigger soccer team opened up their conference schedule at home against CSU-Pueblo Friday night and showed why they are so highly ranked, winning 2-0. Mines is now 4-0-1 on the early season and 1-0 in the RMAC after capturing their fourth straight shutout.
Mines outshot CSU-Pueblo 26-4 for the game and registered 10 of those 26 shots on goal, scoring twice. The first half of play was controlled by the Orediggers, outshooting the Thunderwolves 18-0 for the half. In the nineteenth minute, one of those shots finally found the target when Kenzie King headed in the Anna Evans cross from about three yards out for King’s first goal of the season.
The suffocating defense of the Orediggers continued in the second half, while the offense slowed down a little bit. Only outshooting CSU-Pueblo 8-4, Mines were content to hold their 1-0 lead for as long as possible. On the eighth shot of the second stanza, CSM’s Rachael Turner sent a 30 yard burner into the upper right corner of the net to give Mines the commanding 2-0 lead with less than 15 minutes remaining. Bree Archuleta assisted on the goal, and Mines closed out the game, to nab the 2-0 conference opening victory.
It was another strong team effort for the Orediggers who are unbeaten in their last 19 games, and have outscored their opponents by a total of 10-1 on the year with four shutouts. In what has been an extremely balanced offensive attack so far, seven different players have scored so far this season for the Orediggers, and Goalie Jayln Yates has shutout four of her five opponents, saving three Thuderwolf shots in Friday’s game. CSU-Pueblo was held without a corner kick, while CSM had three, and Mines had eight fouls to CSU-Pueblo’s nine.
For Homecoming and Alumni weekend, The lady Orediggers host Regis University at 7:30 pm Friday.