GOLDEN, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's soccer team engineered a dominant performance on Sunday afternoon as they cruised to a 3-1 victory at Colorado School of Mines to clinch at least a share of the conference title.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: UCCS 3, CSM 1
Records: UCCS (9-4-4, 7-1-1 RMAC), CSM (3-9-4, 2-7-0 RMAC)
Facility: CSM Stermole Soccer Stadium | Golden, Colo.
All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions improve to 18-46-4 all-time against the Orediggers and are 3-0-1 in the last four games in the series.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Mountain Lions came out of the gates quickly in Sunday afternoon's match, recording three shots on goal and seven total shots within the opening 16 minutes of play. Despite failing to find the back of the net in that stretch, the floodgates opened shortly afterwards for UCCS as they went on to score three times in the next six minutes of the match to grab a comfortable 3-0 advantage.
- Senior Miles Seminario opened the scoring in the 17th minute as he took a far-side corner kick from Eduardo Macias and swiftly headed the ball into the nylon for his ninth goal of the season. Less than a minute later, the Mountain Lions were back on the attack and this time it was Sean Belzer who made his way up the left wing and threaded a crosser into the box where Nick Walker was able to collect the ball and fire a strike into the left corner that pushed the score to 2-0.
- UCCS once again found success off a corner kick in the 23rd minute when Diego Macias sent a nice ball into the box for Dimitrios Leonoglou, who directed the ball off his head into the top right portion of the frame for the third goal of the game and his first score as a Mountain Lion.
- In addition to their massive offensive output in the first half that saw them record three goals on 13 total shots and seven shots on goal, UCCS was also sturdy on the defensive end as they limited the Orediggers to just three total shots across the opening 45 minutes of action with none of them going on frame.
- Coming out of the halftime break, the Mountain Lions settled in on the defensive side of the ball as they aimed to protect their three-goal lead. Mines managed to find the net in the 76th minute to cut the UCCS lead to 3-1, but the Mountain Lions turned away the Orediggers for the remainder of the match to secure their seventh win of the conference season.
STATS FROM THE GAME
- The Mountain Lions held the advantage in total shots (14-11) and shots on goal (8-3) while Mines earned five corner kicks to just four for UCCS.
- Seminario netted his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 17th minute and paced the squad with four total shots, including two shots on goal.
- Walker put both of his shots in the match on frame and scored his eighth goal of the campaign, while Leonoglou recorded his first goal of the season on two total shots.
- Three Mountain Lion players recorded assists in the match with Eduardo and Diego Macias each notching their third of the season and Belzer securing his second.
- Goalkeeper Hugo Sjöberg played the full 90 minutes in frame for UCCS, surrendering one goal and making one save.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- With their win today, the Mountain Lions now have 22 points in the conference standings and have clinched at least a share of the men's soccer conference title for the first time in program history. By virtue of their head-to-head win against Metropolitan State University Denver, which currently resides in second place in the standings with 19 points, UCCS has also secured the No. 1 seed in the RMAC Tournament.
- Between Seminario and Walker, the Mountain Lions have two of the top ten goal scorers in the RMAC this season as Seminario currently ranks tied for third with nine goals and Walker ranks sixth with eight goals.
- Walker also sits atop all of NCAA Division II with seven of his eight scores registering as game-winning goals.
- With two shots on goal in today's match, Seminario moved into a tie for seventh all-time in program history for shots on goal with 58 in his career.
- Leonoglou's 23rd minute goal marked the first of his Mountain Lion career and the third of collegiate career.
UP NEXT
- UCCS will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 5 with a 7 p.m. kickoff on the road at Colorado State University Pueblo.
SOCIAL
Twitter - @GoMountainLions
Instagram - @gomountainlions
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.