Late PK gives Adams 1st hat trick with Colorado School of Mines
Greyson Adams
Anchorage’s Greyson Adams produced a season’s worth of goals in one game after scoring three times to help Colorado School of Mines beat Metro State.
His first college hat trick propelled the Orediggers to a 5-1 victory that extended to 24 their home conference winning streak dating back to 2017.
“After not scoring so far this season it felt like the flood gates opened,” Adams said. “Hopefully I can get a few more the rest of the way.”
Adams, redshirt senior center back, came into the day with five goals in 62 career games at Colorado School of Mines.
Then he scored three in one day.
“Honestly, before the game I knew I felt better than usual, which was a nice start,” he said, “and we were able to score one early to give us momentum.”
The 6-foot-3 Alaskan scored two goals off headers and another on a penalty kick.
His first goal came on a broken play in the 22nd minute and gave Colorado School of Mines a 2-0 lead.
After an initial free-kick opportunity was cleared, the Orediggers quickly got the ball back and fed Adams in the middle.
“I was able to keep my defender off me and head it in,” he said.
His second goal also came on a header off a designed play in the corner, making the score 3-0 in the 54th minute.
“It was a perfect cross and I just had to put my head on it and it went right in,” he said.
Adams, of West High fame, completed his hat trick in the 87th minute on a penalty kick. He doesn’t normally take PKs, but had his number called on this occasion.
“I believe the guys that normally take the PKs were off the field,” he said. “Plus, they wanted to see me get the hat trick.”
Letting him take the PK was a nice tip of the cap to Adams, who has logged more than 4,700 minutes on the field in his career with the NCAA Division II school.
The PK goal was icing on the cake, but the goal was no gimmie.
“I’m a natural lefty, so it helps me with PKs normally, but this goalie was able to guess the correct direction,” Adams said. “But with it going post in I don’t think it would’ve been possible to stop that one. I had been practicing hitting it into that corner on my PKs but I was still a little nervous with how close it was.”