Dixie State saw its RMAC tournament run and the 2019 campaign come to an end in a 6-0 semifinal loss at top-seed No. 14 Colorado School of Mines Sunday afternoon at Stermole Soccer Stadium.
With the loss, the Trailblazers closed the season with an 11-8-1 overall record, including five victories over their final six matches to end the year. Meanwhile, Mines (13-3-3) will host No. 2 seed Regis, which defeated No. 6 seed Fort Lewis by a 2-1 count in overtime earlier in the day, in the RMAC tourney title match, with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA Tournament South Central Regionals.
Mines forced the issue on the offensive end for the start, rattling off five early shots, three on frame, with the final chance finding the back of the net just 13:31 into the match. Ford Edwards played a through ball ahead to Ben Overholt, who got behind the Blazer defense and finished from about 20 yards out to give his side the early 1-0 lead.
Dixie State had its first good look at the equalizer three-plus minutes later when
John Joseph booted a bending ball that sailed above the cross bar. Then midway through the 24
th-minute,
Guglielmo Bianchi got by a defender inside the Oredigger 6-yard box and just missed tucking the ball inside the near post.
With 7:28 to go before the halftime break, CSM was the beneficiary of a bad break inside the DSU penalty area as a no-call in the box allowed a Patrick Allan shot to bounce through the scrum and into the netting, which gave Mines a two-goal advantage.
Dixie State came out aggressively to begin the second half as the Trailblazers created two corner kick chances to possibly get on the scoreboard. The first kick was sent in for a
Julian Herrera header, but he could not keep it under the cross bar, while a
Dresdan Quackenbush header moments later was stopped by CSM netminder Drew Johnson. Then minutes later,
Moises Medina had a shot inside the Oredigger box bounce just wide.
Mines would net the dagger third goal with 25:20 to play in regulation when Lucas King tucked home an Allan inside the near post, and the Orediggers never looked back from there as they struck for three more goals over the final 12-plus minutes to coast home with the win.
Dixie State was outshot in the match by a 27-13 count, 14-4 for in shots on goal. Â
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