Photo courtesy UCCS Athletics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - #9 UCCS found a second-half goal to advance from the RMAC Tournament semifinals in a 1-0 win over #20 Colorado School of Mines on Wednesday.

The Mountain Lions (17-3-0) move on to this weekend's RMAC Tournament final against the winner of Regis and Colorado Mesa, being played later on Wednesday. The Orediggers (12-4-4) will now look for a likely NCAA Tournament berth when that field is announced on Monday.

After a scoreless first half featured long stretches of possession by both teams, UCCS came out from halftime on the attack, and they found their goal when Tori Maydew, with her back to goal, pushed the ball up to the top of the box for Tarah Patterson, who fired through traffic to the lower right corner to lead 1-0 in the 51st minute.

That would be the only scoring of the game despite Mines taking four of the match's last five shots; their best opportunity came on an Ellise Putnam chance with just over a minute left. The Orediggers had good late possession including a string of corners and long throws, but ultimately couldn't find the equalizer as UCCS hung on to win.

NOTABLES
- UCCS outshot Mines 17-11, including 7-3 on goal. Corners were 5-5. 
- Sierra Roth made six saves for Mines.
- Patterson led all players with nine shots. Eliot Edwards and Paola Rubi had two apiece for Mines. 
- Mines came into the match ranked #3 in the new NCAA Regional Rankings released earlier on Thursday; the top six from the South Central region make the NCAA Tournament field. 
- UCCS evened the all-time RMAC Tournament series with Mines at 2-2, snapping a two-match win streak by the Orediggers.

NEXT UP
Mines will hope to hear its name called during the NCAA selection show Monday at 4 p.m. MT on ncaa.com.