(2) #9 Mines (18-1-3, 10-0-2 RMAC) vs. (2) #10 Western Washington (16-2-4, 11-1-2 GNAC) – Saturday, 1 p.m. PT – Bellingham, Wash. [Live Stats] [Live Video]

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WE MEET AT LAST
Following a thrilling 1-0 win Thursday over #1 Dallas Baptist in the Third Round of the 2022 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship, the South Central Region champions #9 Colorado School of Mines will finally take this field this season against the winner of the West Region, #10 Western Washington Saturday in the national quarterfinals to compete for a trip to the Final Four.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets for the match Saturday can be purchased here. On-site parking will be free of charge on Saturday. The official digital program of the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship can be accessed on the NCAA Division II women's soccer home page.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The match this weekend will be streamed free of charge on Western Washington's YouTube and will have live stats through Sidearm.
 
AT THE HELM
Head Coach Kevin Fickes is in his 13th season leading the Mines women's soccer program, already the program's all-time leader in wins at 209-36-35. His .809 career win percentage is currently among the top-10 active NCAA Division II coaches, and on October 6 at CCU, he became just the second RMAC coach to reach 200 career victories, joining current UCCS boss J.B. Belzer. Heading into the 2022 national tournament, Fickes has overseen 24 All-American selections, 12 Academic All-Americans, 69 all-conference honorees, and 21 RMAC major award winners while guiding Mines to six RMAC regular-season titles and nine RMAC Tournament trophies, with 14 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
WELCOME TO THE 200 CLUB
As previously mentioned, head coach Kevin Fickes collected his 200th career win on October 6 when Mines defeated Colorado Christian in Lakewood 3-0 behind goals from Colleen Tyrrell and Reese McDermott. Fickes, who took over as head coach ahead of the 2010 season, has won no fewer than 11 games in a season during his tenure at Mines, notwithstanding the 2020-21 season played in the spring on account of CoVID-19. The Orediggers have now won double-figure games in 14 of the last 15 seasons not including the shortened spring 2021 slate and have now won at least 18 matches in a season for the eighth time in program history.

WEARING THE ARMBAND
The Orediggers have selected Jordan Barnhart and Meg Zimmerman as their captains for the 2022 season. Barnhart is entering her third season as a starter at centerback and played more minutes than any other Oredigger last season in guiding a defense that had a 0.73 GAA. Zimmerman, a forward, is a fifth-year senior returning from an injury-shortened 2021 season that saw her score a goal in the season opener; she has five career goals and three assists.
 
BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
When the RMAC announced their All-Academic teams and Honor Roll along with All-Conference Team and major award winners, the Mines women's soccer program was well-represented. Katie Koehler and Reese McDermott were named All-Academic First Team honorees while an additional 13 players were named to the Academic Honor Roll on Monday. Six Orediggers named All-RMAC selections in addition to earning two superlative awards, while head coach Kevin Fickes was voted Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. Jordan Barnhart was selected as RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and named to the league's First Team, while Afton Rasco was tabbed as the RMAC Freshman of the Year and was named to the Second Team, the only freshman named to either All-RMAC squad. Reese McDermott landed a spot on the First Team for the second time in as many seasons while Laura Butler rounded out the trio of First Team selections with her first career postseason honor. Joining Rasco on the second team was Koehler while Lauren Clingman was named Honorable Mention All-RMAC. In addition, six players landed All-Tournament team honors, headlined by McDermott as the Most Valuable player with Rasco, Butler, Sadie Wolf, Barnhart and Landry Corbett all being recognized for their outstanding efforts in the tournament. Tuesday, the D2CCA announced their All-Region Teams and three members of the Mines program, Barnhart, Butler and McDermott, were named All-South Central Region First Team selections.
 
WEEK 13 REVIEW
Mines hit the road for the first time in the 2022 postseason after hosting the RMAC Tournament along with the opening rounds of this year's NCAA Tournament. The Orediggers lined up against a familiar foe from earlier this season and the team responsible for their only loss to date Dallas Baptist, the #1 team in the United Soccer Coaches Poll since September 13. DBU tested Sadie Wolf and the Mines defense early, but it was the Orediggers who struck first and scored the only goal of the match in the 30th minute, when Ellise Putnam put one past the keeper off a cross from Landry Corbett and a quick touch by Paola Rubi for her second goal this postseason. For the next 60 minutes, Mines dug their heels in on defense to quell any thoughts the Patriots might have of finding an equalizer, as Wolf and the defense were up to the task as the Orediggers made the early goal stick to claim the South Central Region title and advance to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2016.
 
POSTSEASON PEDIGREE
It's getting to the point where it doesn't quite feel like a Mines NCAA Tournament match unless Ellise Putnam scores. The sophomore from Austin, Texas has appeared in four NCAA postseason matches so far and has scored the game-winning goal in three of them. Last season, she scored a golden goal in overtime against Midwestern State in the 100th minute to send the Orediggers to the Second Round. This season, she connected on the game-winner against UCCS in the 70th minute the Second Round back on November 13 at Stermole Stadium before again finding the net Thursday against #1 DBU in the 30th minute. Throw in an assist in this year's RMAC Tournament and Putnam has seven career points in the postseason, which definitely makes her someone to keep an eye on Iin the quarterfinals.
 
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Saturday afternoon will be one to remember for the Manalili family, as they will get to watch both of their daughters compete for the chance to advance to Final Four as true freshmen for their respective teams. Identical twin sisters Kaitlin Manalili and Morgan Manalili have each been key contributors to the success of their teams this season. Morgan, who plays for Western Washington, has burst onto the scene in Bellingham this season, scoring a team-high nine times and assisting on an additional four for 22 points this season and scoring six game-winners, including three this postseason. She was named an All-GNAC First Team selection and took home Freshman of the Year honors. Kaitlin, who plays for Mines, has been a key reserve this season in Golden, appearing in 21 matches and has been an integral part of a midfield unit, changing the pace of play whenever she is on the pitch. She has two assists this season, including one on a game-winner in the NCAA Second Round over UCCS. Regardless of the outcome Saturday, this season will be one for the family to remember for a long time to come.
 
IN THE POLLS
The Orediggers were chosen atop the RMAC preseason coaches' poll announced earlier this season and maintained their standing at #9 in last week's United Soccer Coaches Division II Top-25 poll this week. It was a close race in the RMAC poll with Mines, UCCS, and Colorado Mesa all splitting the bulk of the first-place votes and just three points overall separating the three teams. One of Mines' previous opponents, Dallas Baptist, continues to remain in sole possession of first place in the poll with UCCS checking in rising from 25 to 19, while Seattle Pacific continued to receive votes.
 
ON TRACK
This year's roster boasts not one, but two dual-sport athletes as both senior Amena Nelson and freshman Callie Fuhr will spend their winters and springs competing for the Mines track & field program. Nelson can rightly claim to be the RMAC's fastest woman on the track or the pitch, coming off a superb outdoor season that saw her win the RMAC 400m dash title and claim RMAC 4x400 gold both indoors and out. Fuhr is also a 400m runner as a four-time Colorado 5A state qualifier and two-time top-10 placer in the event.  

THEM'S THE RULES
NCAA soccer has implemented a major rule change this season with the elimination of overtime in the regular season, bringing college soccer more in line with the FIFA Laws of the Game. Any match that is tied at the 90-minute mark will now end that way. In the postseason, there will be overtime but no more golden goal; teams will play two full 10-minute extra periods regardless of any goals and if it is still tied, the advancing team will be decided on penalty kicks.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN WASHINGTON
The Vikings claimed the 2022 West Regional title with a 1-0 win over Concordia University Irvine in the second match of the day Thursday behind a goal from Morgan Manalili in just the fourth minute while getting a stellar defensive effort from the backline that allowed just six shots all match and a shutout from Claire Henninger. Manalili has led the way on offense this season, scoring nine times while assisting on four more for 22 points and has six game-winning scores, three of which have come during WWU's postseason run. She is followed by Estera Levinte, the team leader in assists with six while also scoring seven times herself. Tera Ziemer and Claire Potter each have four goals this season and a combined seven assists between them while four other Vikings have multiple goals to their ledgers this season. 13 different players have scored this season for WWU while 11 have logged at least one assist. Henninger has been the primary netminder this season, starting all 20 matches she has appeared for over 1,720 minutes and allowing just nine goals all season while making 46 saves and posting 11 shutouts to lead the GNAC. He has a save percentage of .836 and a GAA of 0.47, also tops in the GNAC in 2022. Behind her are Abigail Trengove and Grace Wales, the former of which was the primary reserve starting twice in five appearances for 232 minutes and making 10 saves while allowing one goal, good for a GAA of 0.39 and a .909 save percentage while Wales has played 25 minutes in her lone appearance with three saves. As a team, WWU has outscored their opponents 39-10 this season, holding them to 0.45 goals and less than eight shots per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
As fate would have it, Mines and Western Washington will get to play each other this season after all; what would have been the first meeting of the season between the schools back on September 11 was canceled due to poor air quality on account of wildfire smoke. All times in the series, the Vikings lead 2-1-1. The last meeting came in September of 2021 and resulted in a scoreless draw while Mines' only win of the series came in 2019 in Golden. The teams have met just one time in Bellingham, that coming in 2018 and resulting in a 2-1 win for WWU.
 
LOOKING AT THE STAT SHEET
Reese McDermott logged her team-leading 15th goal of the season in the NCAA second round and has now scored in three of Mines' five postseason matches and seven of the previous 10 going back to the regular season. Laura Butler scored twice in the RMAC tournament and has seven goals on the season with six assists. Afton Rasco and Jordan Barnhart each have six goals and three assists on the season while Paola Rubi has scored five times and assisted on two more. 13 different Orediggers have scored this season with 15 recording at least one assist led by Landry Corbett with seven, with Colleen Tyrrell finding herself third in that category with five. Freshman netminder Sadie Wolf has been outstanding in goal since taking over the starting job on October 2, logging 1,100 minutes and recording eight shutouts in 12 matches. She's made 45 saves and allowed just six goals, good for a GAA of 0.49 and an .882 save percentage. Emma Carstens, who started the first nine matches of the year has 20 saves in 791 minutes and recorded five shutouts while posting a 0.91 GAA and .714 save percentage.
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Not even two full seasons into her time as an Oredigger, Reese McDermott has penned her name into the record books when it comes to career marks; her 23 career goals are now tied for fifth all-time with Jennifer Kendall (2015-18). In addition, her 49 points are good for eighth, just two behind Brooke Stoermer (2014-17) for seventh. Her seven game-winning goals are tied for sixth in program history with Erin Onat (2008-11) and Caitlin Kaltenbaugh (2013-16), while she is now fourth all-time in single-season goals with 15, two behind Anna Evans' 17 in 2012. When it comes to shutouts, Sadie Wolf now has eight in her young career and has now passed Penny Rogers (2008-11) for sixth all-time and now trails Sierra Roth (2018-21) by four.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should Mines advance with a win Saturday, they will get the week of Thanksgiving off before heading back to Seattle for the national semifinals on December 1. The 2022 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship Final Four is being hosted this year by Seattle Pacific University as part of the NCAA Division II Championship Festival. The full bracket can be found here.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's soccer on Twitter at @mineswsoc. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.