DENVER – MSU Denver gave up an early goal Sunday and never quite recovered in a 4-0 defeat to No. 18 Colorado School of Mines.
 
Mines (9-3-2 overall, 5-1-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) scored off a throw-in in the ninth minute.
 
The Orediggers' next two goals came after free kicks from just outside the box were played in as part of a first half when MSU Denver was whistled for 10 fouls to just two for Mines.
 
Mines scored in the 26^th minute and the 38^th minutes.
 
"One goal shouldn't take the wind out of our sails," MSU Denver Kat Mertz said. "But it did. One goal is nothing. Two goals is nothing. Three goals is nothing. You've seen teams come back from that before, but it just looked like that one goal deflated us to be honest."
 
Mines stayed more upright in the second half as each team was called for two fouls.

Colorado School of Mines did have strong advantages of 18-7 in shots, 12-2 in shots an goal and 12-3 in corner kicks.
 
The Orediggers scored their final goal in the 79^th minute.
 
"Technically, all four came off some sort of set piece," Mertz said. "The first was a throw-in that we weren't turned on. The second and third were free kicks, and the last one was our own thrown-in. That's really frustrating and disappointing to see the type of goals we gave up. We knew they were good in transition moments, but we weren't clean."
 
MSU Denver, which had been one point behind Mines in the RMAC table, dropped to 5-5-4 overall and 4-3-1 in the league, retaining its hold on fifth with 13 points.
 
"We've got to hunt points," Mertz said. "Every team is hunting points right now. That's why October is an exciting time, because everyone is in the hunt. No one is going to come in and roll over and say, 'Here you go, here's the three points.' That's just not how soccer, or life, works. We've got to step up a little here, with our mentality and our urgency."