Women’s Soccer continues on record-breaking streak

The No. 5 Colorado School of Mines Women’s soccer team played four games over the course of eight days and were victorious in all four appearances, getting shutouts in three of them. On Friday Oct. 11, Colorado Mesa visited Mines; then, the lady Orediggers hit the road for games on Sunday October, 13 at Colorado Christian University and Wednesday October, 16, at Regis before finishing off this stretch with a home game this past Friday against Fort Lewis.

The first game against CMU started out with very even play in the first half. Neither team was able to take control of the game, and the the match stayed scoreless in the first 45 minutes of play. Mines outshot CMU by a margin of 5-2 in a very defense minded first half.

However, things would change quickly in the second half when the lady Orediggers took control of the game and never looked back. In the fifty-ninth minute, #9 Rachael Turner scored the first goal of the game when she nailed home a Jordan Hopper (#8) corner kick from six yards out. In the seventy-seventh minute, Mines scored again this time when #10 Anna Evans passed inside the box to #3 Bree Archuleta who put the ball in the right side of the net from 18 yards out. Just 10 minutes later, Mines scored the final goal of the game. Jayln Yates (#00) sprung #16 Jaclyn Knott with a long punt from goal and Knott took the pass and finished to the left side of the goal from 13 out.

The lady Orediggers outshot CMU by a total of 13-1 in the decisive second stanza and had six corner kicks to Mesa’s zero in the half. Overall, Mines outshot CMU 18-3 and Yates saved only one shot en route to recording her fourth consecutive shutout in net and ninth on the year.

Game two was a more subdued game as Mines looked for the season sweep when they visited CCU. The lady Orediggers needed overtime, but they pulled out the 1-0 victory and recorded their fifth straight shutout in the process.

The first half of play was controlled by Mines, but none of their seven total shots found the net (three were on goal). The second half was much the same as the first, as Mines once again outshot their opponent, 9-3 but CCU saved six shots to keep the game knotted at nil-nil.

Halfway through the first overtime period, #18 Mel Westhoff converted her first goal of the season when she took a Rachael Turner pass and sailed it into the upper 90 from 30 yards out. The Orediggers needed only one shot in the OT period, but that was all it took as Mines escaped with the victory. It was a relatively clean game, with only seven total fouls (CSM 2, CCU 5). Mines outshot CCU 17-4 overall and had seven corner kicks to none for CCU. Yates only needed two saves in the game to nab her tenth shutout of the year.

The third of four games featured a few more scores than the previous two, and Mines came within one minute of another shutout before grabbing the 3-1 victory when they visited Regis (4-7-1, 2-6-1 RMAC).

Evans got the scoring started early when just 5:51 in, she sent #24 Anna Deleray’s cross into the bottom left corner of the goal from just inside the 18 yard box. The goal was Evans’ seventh of the year. In the thirty-second minute, Turner scored her fourth of the year when she dribbled through the Ranger defense and converted from point blank range. The score at the half was 2-0 with Mines having outshot Regis 7-1 in the half.

Just seven minutes into the second stanza, Deleray added her fourth of the year to give Mines the 3-0 lead. Set up by a Turner pass, Deleray scorched a shot from 18 yards out for the three goal advantage. With their sixth straight shutout in site, and the victory all but decided, Mines gave up a goal in the ninetieth minute when Catherine Anger of Regis took a pass, dribbled a few times, and sent the ball sailing into the net. Other than spoiling the shutout, the Regis goal meant very little in a dominating performance by the lady Orediggers.

For the game, Mines outshot Regis 14-6 and only had four fouls to seven by Regis. Yates was a little busier in the 3-1 victory, saving four of the five Regis shots on goal.

The lady Orediggers final game of the four was this past Friday at home against Fort Lewis (10-3, 6-3 RMAC). Mines emerged as the 1-0 victor after a cold 90 minutes of play and stayed unbeaten on the year with a record of 13-0-1 and 10-0-0 in the RMAC.

For most of the game, these two conference powerhouses played each other to a standstill without fouling, three overall for Mines, and two for Fort Lewis. For the first time all year, Mines was outshot by an opponent 8-7 (although Mines had a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal), but still ended up on the plus side of the scoreboard. The lady Orediggers broke the 0-0 standstill in the eighty-second minute when Archuleta scored a point blank header. Archuleta was set up by a cross by #11 Cari Smith and a chip by Evans. Mines held on for the last 8:26 of play for the 1-0 victory to remain unbeaten on the year. Yates saved three shots in the win and now has 21 total shutouts in her brief career (second year).

With the four wins in eight days, The Orediggers have now recorded a program record 10 wins in a row, are unbeaten in their last 28 contests, and have only trailed for 92 seconds in their past 1912:38 minutes of play dating back to last year. Yates and the team, now have 11 shutouts on the year in just 14 games and have allowed only three goals all year. On the season, the Orediggers have had two different stretches of five straight shutouts. Mines returns to the field this Friday in Pueblo against CSU-Pueblo.