Photo Gallery vs. Colorado MinesGOLDEN, Colo. – All of the stats, and the pace of play were pointing in the favor of St. Edward's, but the Hilltoppers would fall in a heartbreaker to Colorado Mines, 2-1, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday afternoon.
St. Edward's (15-3-2) outshot Colorado Mines, 7-3 in shots on goal and controlled the pace of play in the second half. The only problem was that the Orediggers got an early goal and a second goal off of a set piece to take down the Hilltoppers.
In the first half, St. Edward's had an early scoring chance in the second minute.
SAMUEL JACKSON took a beautiful through ball from
JOSH TAYLOR and ripped a shot from six yards out. Colorado Mines goalkeeper Collin Hall made the point-blank save.
Colorado Mines (17-0-3) countered with four shots over the next 15 minutes. On the fourth shot, the Orediggers got on the scoreboard. Chayce Muniz one-timed a pass from Nikolaus Grotz from the six-yard line past Hilltopper goalkeeper
KEVIN LEIB.
DYLAN ARMSTRONG looked to have tied the score in the 34
th minute when his shot narrowly missed the far post. The Hilltoppers were not done attacking as newly inserted
STEVE AOUDOU and
TY MOBLEY got into the mix.
GRANT MOBLEY started the run down the right side. After he played the ball to
TY MOBLEY near the touchline, the ball was played across the goalmouth where Aoudou cleaned up the goal. That is the way the half would end.
In the second half, it was St. Edward's from the start. The Hilltoppers had four shots in the first 10 minutes of action. In the 51
st minute, St. Edward's had a golden opportunity.
GRANT MOBLEY skied for the first header that was saved by the Mines goalkeeper. The follow-up header by
KYLE PUJATS hit off of the crossbar.
After a couple of shots from both teams over the next 15 minutes, Colorado Mines won a cornerkick. On that corner, Leib was held up by an Oredigger and knocked out of the play. John Haist got his head on the ball and put the ball into the net.
Down the stretch, the Hilltoppers put an enormous amount of pressure on the Colorado Mines goal.
In the 86
th minute, it appeared that St. Edward's had leveled the score.
GRANT MOBLEY made a fantastic run to the endline and cut the ball through everyone to the back post.
KARL DE ZOETEN was there for the sliding shot but was offsides by inches disallowing the goal. The Hilltoppers ran out of chances as their season came to an end.
St. Edward's also had five cornerkicks compared to three for Colorado Mines.
St. Edward's ends its season with the second-most wins in school history at 15. It marks two-straight seasons of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, and four-straight Heartland Conference titles.
