The nineteenth ranked Colorado School of Mines men’s soccer team opened their season on Friday against St. Edwards in Austin, Texas. In what hopes to be a promising season for the Orediggers, their first game of the year proved to be good test of character as the Orediggers gave up an early goal and had to fight their way to a 2-1 victory.
The opening minutes of the game were not kind to the Orediggers. St. Edwards scored the first goal of the game just nine minutes in. On their third shot of the game, St. Edward’s Jack Blanton headed the ball into the back of the net off of a rebound, to give the Hilltoppers the early 1-0 lead. After the early goal, the game would settle down for the next twenty minutes as both teams traded shots and fouls back and forth.
In the thirty-third minute Mines finally broke through. After a couple of missed chances, the Orediggers tied the score up when Tesho Akindele headed in a goal of his own to tie the game at 1. The score at the half was deadlocked at 1 apiece.
The second half was a hotly contested affair. In the fifty second minute, CSM’s Jared Herselman was tagged with a yellow card, and for most of the second half, neither team could seem to find the net. That all changed in the eighty-first minute when Akindele netted his second goal of the game. The goal would prove to be the game-winning goal as the Orediggers took the contest by a score of 2-1.
Making his first career start, Colin Baker saved five shots in the win and Mines outshot St. Edwards by a tally of 13-12, with both teams having six shots apiece on goal. With two goals in the contest, Akindele upped his program-leading record to 59 goals and looks in good shape to up that total significantly this year. Baski Baker led the Orediggers with five shots.