#7 Mines (5-0-1) at #15 Western Washington (4-2-0), Wednesday, 12 p.m. PT [Live Video] [Live Stats]
#7 Mines (5-0-1) at CSU-Pueblo (4-1-1), Friday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
#7 Mines (5-0-1) at New Mexico Highlands (0-5-0), Sunday, 1 p.m. PT [Live Video] [Live Stats]
 

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THE WEEK AHEAD
Mines' road trip continues with a three-game week as they visit #15 Western Washington, CSU-Pueblo, and New Mexico Highlands. The Orediggers are 5-0-1 to start the season and 2-0 in RMAC play.

OREDIGGERS ROLL THROUGH RMAC OPENING WEEKEND
A pair of 1-0 shutouts propelled Mines to a 2-0 start to RMAC play with road wins at Western State and Colorado Mesa. Nicole LaTourette's goal in the 42nd minute at WSCU secured that win as Shannon Mooney made four saves; another four-save game for Mooney at CMU was converted into three points thanks to Jennifer Kendall's gamewinner in the 77th minute.

IN THE POLLS
Mines stayed put at #7 in this week's United Soccer Coaches' top-25 poll. It is the 41st time that Mines has received a top-10 ranking since 2009; since the start of the 2013 season, the Orediggers have been nationally ranked in 55 of a possible 63 polls. Wednesday's opponent, Western Washington, fell from #9 to #15 after losing to now-#10 Concordia, while CSU-Pueblo dropped out after having been #23 last week.

WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING
There is only one team left in NCAA Division II to have not allowed a goal this season: Mines. The Orediggers have recorded six straight shutouts to begin the season, giving up only 5.8 shots per game in the process. Mines' six straight shutouts now represent the second-longest overall streak in program history, behind an eight-game run in 2014.

KENDALL, LATOURETTE PACE OFFENSE
Mines' offense has been paced by the duo of Jennifer Kendall (3G, 1A) and Nicole LaTourette (2G, 1A) so far this season, and the pair of been producing clutch goals as of late. LaTourette scored the lone goals against both Angelo State and Western State, while Kendall had the winner against Colorado Mesa.

MINES VS. THE FIELD
Mines will play Western Washington for the first time ever in the regular season, having met them only once before in WWU's win in the 2016 NCAA Elite Eight round at Stermole Stadium. WWU was ranked #1 at the time and went on to win the national title that season. The Orediggers play CSU-Pueblo for the 24th time, leading the series 13-8-2; Mines has won two in a row over the Thunderwolves. The meeting with New Mexico Highlands will be the 22nd all-time with Mines ahead 14-4-3 in the series; the Orediggers are 8-0-1 in their last nine get-togethers.

ROAD WARRIORS
Last weekend began a tough five-game road stretch for Mines that will see them hit three different states and two time zones. Mines started with a trip to Gunnison and Western State (192 miles), then continued to Grand Junction for their game at Colorado Mesa (125 miles) before heading 235 miles home to Golden. This week, it's a 2,600-mile roundtrip flight to Bellingham, Wash. to face Western Washington on Wednesday, then back to Colorado for a Friday trip to CSU-Pueblo (126 miles) and then on to New Mexico Highlands (213 miles) on Sunday. All told, with return trips, Mines will cover 3,830 miles in a nine-day span.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
#15 Western Washington represents a big non-conference game with Mines as the Vikings, a perennial power in D-II soccer, will begin a home-and-home series with the Orediggers this year. WWU is 4-2-0 with losses coming to #5 UC San Diego (1-0) and #15 Concordia (1-0); the Vikings have quality wins over #7 MSU Denver (2-1) and Texas Woman's (2-0), and are allowing just 0.67 goals per game. CSU-Pueblo is 3-2-1 overall after losing last weekend to UCCS (3-0) and MSU Denver (2-0); they own wins over West Texas A&M, Lubbock Christian, and Midwestern State. New Mexico Highlands has struggled at 0-5, losing 4-0 to MSU Denver and 8-0 to UCCS in their opening RMAC weekend; the Cowgirls have just three goals in five games.

BITS AND PIECES
Jennifer Kendall is Mines' active scoring leader, scoring her 14th career goal against Colorado Mesa ... Acacia Ortiz is Mines' active points leader with 31 (7 goals, 17 assists) ... Shannon Mooney has lowered her career GAA to 0.41, which would tie her for the Mines record ... Mooney's shutout at CMU was the 18th of her career, surpassing former teammate Sam Zumbro for third on the Mines career shutout list… Head coach Kevin Fickes is 139-27-21 overall and 84-14-9 in RMAC play in his ninth season.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines will visit #9 Western Washington on Sept. 19 before resuming RMAC play at CSU-Pueblo Sept. 21.