RAPID CITY, S.D --- A Pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) road games await the South Dakota School of Mines men's soccer team on one of their longest trips of the season.
 
Nearing the halfway mark of the season, the Hardrocker men's soccer team has been solid as a rock. They have posted three shutouts and only allowed seven goals on the season, averaging one-goal-against per game over that span. At this same point last year, the program was 0-7, had conceded 20 goals and only scored seven.
 
Changing of the guard has given new life to the program. First year Hardrocker soccer head coach Andrew Conniff has encouraged a defensive mindset with a free flowing attack. During SD Mines great run of form they have found the back of the net 12 times thus far, heading into the weekend.
 
Proving to be leaders on the field, the Hardrockers defense is led by seniors Lars Skau, Brett Bender, David Pineda and junior Kyle Daledovich. These Hardrockers have been leading the team in minutes played throughout the season.
 
On offense, sophomore Justin Barkow leads the attack with five goals scored, senior Charles Kieffer has notched three, Noah McKenzie two, and Pineda and freshman Trenton Magryta each have one.
 
SD Mines will travel over 1,500 miles, from Salt Lake City, Utah, to square off with Westminster College on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. (MST), followed by a Sunday meeting in Grand Junction, Colo., to challenge Colorado Mesa University at 12 p.m. (MST).
 
Westminster College is coming off a near upset win against Colorado Mesa as they went into overtime this past Thursday night. Westminster scored first and it took a late goals by the Mavericks to send it to OT. CMU narrowly escaped with a 2-1 win over the Griffins. Westminster is now 2-7 (0-5 RMAC) on the season. This will not be a team to sleep on for SD Mines regardless of their record. Griffins are coached by Josh Pittman who has plenty of experience in tough RMAC games.
 
Colorado Mesa has been providing some exciting matchups this year. They've had several close call games that have been decided by just one goal. The Mavericks sit at 7-1-1 overall. CMU is currently ranked No. 24 in the nation dropping from 10^th last week.