#7 Mines (2-0) at St. Edward's (1-1), Friday, 4:30 p.m. CT [Live Video] [Live Stats]
#7 Mines (2-0) at Angelo State (2-0), Sunday, 12 p.m. CT [Live Stats]
 

---

HITTING THE ROAD
#7 Colorado School of Mines continued non-conference play this weekend with visits to St. Edward's (Friday, 4:30 p.m. Central) and Angelo State (Sunday, noon Central). This will be the Orediggers' only non-conference road trip of the season. Mines is coming off a 2-0 start to the season after beating Chico State and San Francisco State at home.

OPENING WEEKEND REWIND
Mines opened 2019 with two wins at home, beating Chico State 2-1 and San Francisco State 2-0. Emi Higgins and Nicole LaTourette scored against Chico State, while it was Jordan Barnhart and Higgins who punched in against SFSU. Set pieces featured prominently in Mines' offensive success; LaTourette's goal came off a free kick, while Barnhart headed home on a corner. Defensively, the Orediggers conceded an unlucky own goal but largely held their opponents in check, allowing seven shots per game as Shannon Mooney made nine total saves.

IN THE POLLS
After their 2-0 start, Mines moved up eight spots to #7 in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll. Since the start of the 2013 season, the Orediggers have been nationally ranked in 65 of a possible 73 polls, and they earn their 49th top-10 ranking all-time. Mines also tops the USC's South Central regional ranking with Angelo State at #5 and St. Edward's at #9.

HIGGINS, MOONEY EARN WEEKLY AWARDS
Emi Higgins (Offensive) and Shannon Mooney (Goalkeeper) took home RMAC player of the week awards on Tuesday after impressive starts to the season. Higgins scored in both of Mines' games in making her career debut, while Mooney had nine saves total including a five-save shutout on Sunday against San Francisco State.

NOBODY FASTER
When she scored only 1:23 into the Chico State game, freshman Emi Higgins set two Mines marks: her goal was both the fastest to start a season in Mines history, and the quickest goal by an Oredigger freshman to start her career.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Mines brought in its biggest freshman class since 2014 this year, and so it was no surprise that rookies featured prominently into the lineup on opening weekend. Against Chico State, three freshmen made starts in Higgins at forward, outside back Brooke Patterson, and center back Jordan Barnhart; on Sunday, midfielder Karolina Sidebaeck also made her first career start. Colleen Tyrrell and AK Ford also saw time off the bench on Sunday. Freshmen scored three of Mines' four goals for the weekend as Higgins tallied twice and Barnhart had another.

THE STARS AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT…
Mines heads to Texas with five players from the Lone Star State playing their closest games to home this year. AK Ford (Houston), Jordan Barnhart (Cypress), and Megan Mirza (Bellaire) are from the Houston area while Chaney Brugman (Trophy Club) and Brooke Patterson (Rockwall) hail from the DFW area.

…DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
Mines is visiting Texas for the first time since the 2017 NCAA Tournament, when they beat Midwestern State and Dallas Baptist, both at DBU. Mines is 21-6-4 all-time against Texan opponents.

SCOUTING ST. EDWARD'S [SERIES: Mines, 3-1-0]
The Hilltoppers are off to a solid start at 1-1 with a quality win over MSU Denver, 1-0, on Monday and a 1-0 loss to #11 Western Washington on Saturday. SEU has allowed 18.5 shots per game but goalkeeper Annabel Sweeney has 11 saves in two games for a .917 save percentage. Sarah Preston has scored their only goal of the season while Eli Chavez leads the team with five shots. Mines and SEU met last season in Golden with the Orediggers winning 2-0 on goals by Jennifer Kendall and Emily Townsend, with Nicole LaTourette assisting the latter. Mines outshot the Hilltoppers 18-5.

SCOUTING ANGELO STATE [SERIES: Mines, 1-0-0]
Angelo State had an impressive start to its season with lopsided wins over Fort Lewis (3-0) and New Mexico Highlands (6-0). Valerie Solis scored four of ASU's nine goals over the weekend while Emily Keoughan handed out three assists. The Rams defense did not concede a goal with Kira Miller making six saves. This will be Mines' first trip to San Angelo; in the two teams' first-ever meeting last year, the Orediggers won 1-0 on Nicole LaTourette's second-half goal while holding ASU to only three shots.

JACOBSEN GETS HALL CALL
Last week, Kayla (Mitchell) Jacobsen was announced as part of the 2019 Mines Athletic Hall of Fame class, making her the first player from the women's soccer program to be inducted. Mines' all-time leading scorer with 76 career goals, Jacobsen was the program's first all-American and RMAC Player of the Year after her 30-goal senior season in 2009. She still ranks second in RMAC history in scoring and holds the conference record for career game-winning goals (30).

BITS AND PIECES
Head coach Kevin Fickes won is now 155-28-22 overall and 95-14-9 in RMAC play in his 10th season … Midfielders Hannah Rowan and Zoe Sano earned their first career starts against Chico State … LaTourette's goal against Chico State moved her into a tie for sixth eighth all-time at Mines in goals (18), tied with former teammates Jackie Knott and Haley Cole ... LaTourette is also eighth all-time in career points (41) and tied for fifth in game-winning goals (7) ... Shannon Mooney became the fifth Mines goalkeeper to reach 100 career saves with her first stop against Chico State … Mooney is now third all-time in saves (108), tied for second in shutouts (26), and second in career GAA (0.45) … Mines has led the RMAC in goals-against average six times since 2011 (including in 2018), and not finished worse than second in that span.

LOOKING AHEAD
After this weekend's trip, Mines begins a five-match homestand as RMAC play begins Sept. 20 against Western Colorado.