(2) #4 Mines (15-2-3, 9-1-2 RMAC) vs. (4) #18 Colorado Mesa (15-3-1, 8-3-1 RMAC) – Sunday, 1 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV]

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CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
Two of the best teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference all season long will meet in the 2023 women's soccer tournament title match Sunday afternoon at Stermole Stadium, as the #4 Colorado School of Mines will take on #18 Colorado Mesa in a rematch of their regular season contest that took place 16 days ago in Grand Junction.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's championship match along with all matches in the 2023 RMAC Women's Soccer Championship will be available on the RMAC Network at a price of $9.95 per day. Additional information can be found below. Free live stats will also be available through SIDEARM.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Fans are reminded that there is no passlist for the postseason. All college students of the teams that are playing who present a valid student ID card will be admitted free of charge to all matches. Fans are encouraged to purchase advance tickets through the Hometown Fan App on their mobile device, or the RMAC Box Office on their computer, which are subject to processing fees. When purchasing tickets electronically, fans will need to select 'Site 2' to purchase tickets to attend the match at Mines. The only tickets that may be purchased at the venue will be cash only transactions. Adult tickets are priced at $15 dollars, while tickets for seniors and children over the age of five are priced at $10.
 
Also, fans are reminded that beginning with the 2023 soccer tournaments, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will be implementing a subscription model for all championship broadcasts. Fans will be able to purchase day passes for each day of the tournament priced at $9.95 per day. To purchase the day pass, fans will navigate to www.rmacnetwork.com and will be directed to select the institution that they are supporting through their viewership. Once the payment submission is complete, fans will have access to any RMAC championship contest available for that specific sport. Day passes will expire within 24 hours of the purchase.
 
For technical support questions, fans may submit a support ticket with Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (help@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
AT THE HELM
Head Coach Kevin Fickes is in his 14th season leading the Mines women's soccer program, already the program's all-time leader in wins at 224-39-38. His .807 career win percentage is currently among the top-10 active NCAA Division II coaches, and on October 6 of last season against Colorado Christian, he became just the second RMAC coach to reach 200 career victories, joining current UCCS boss J.B. Belzer. Entering the 2023 season, Fickes has overseen 27 All-American selections, 13 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 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

WEARING THE ARMBAND
The Orediggers have selected a new group of captains for the 2023 season, as Ava Harman, Katie Koehler and Reese McDermott will be wearing the armband this fall. Harman is entering her third season as a starter and scored the first goal of her career in 2022. McDermott was named Third Team All-American to cap off a decorated breakout season in which she was one of the most prolific goal scorers in in the conference, finding the net 15 times as only one of two players with double-digit goals. Koehler, also entering her third season as a starter, was a key piece of a defensive backline last fall that allowed just 0.74 goals and 9.7 shots per match while also scoring four times herself.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Despite some less-than-ideal conditions in their semifinal match Wednesday that included snow, sleet and rain, the Orediggers continued their red-hot run of late against Regis, blanking the Rangers 4-0 in a rematch of last season's tournament title game. Mines scores a pair of goals in each half, headlined by Bella Campos who now has four goals in two postseason games this season. Cloey Seltzer added an assist on the Campos goal before scoring on a ball from Reese McDermott, who scored a goal of her own shortly after play resumed in the second half. Campos also added an assist in the second half on the final goal of the day from Paola Rubi. Sadie Wolf and the defense recorded the team's 15th shutout of 2023 and allowed just five shots on the day with just one on goal as the Orediggers ran their winning streak to nine and shutout streak to 10.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines was on the move in the polls once again this week, climbing back into the top five at #4 following their quarterfinal win over Fort Lewis. Early season-foes DBU and Seattle Pacifici checked in at #10 and #16 respectively this week, while Colorado Mesa remained #18 with UCCS and Regis again both earning votes along with Western Washington. The latest regional rankings came out shortly before kickoff on Wednesday and saw Dallas Baptist and Mines hold place in first and second while Colorado Mesa moved up to third. Texas Woman's slid to fourth and UCCS dropped to fifth while the rest of the top eight included St. Mary's (TX), Texas A&M International and Regis.
 
RULES REFRESHER
With the 2023 postseason being the second time through on the new overtime rules, let's review the changes that went into effect last year. To bring college soccer more in line with the FIFA Laws of the Game, 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.

RECORD SETTERS
Despite having a history that only goes back to 2005, the Mines women's soccer record book is littered with names who put up significant numbers during their time in Golden. Several current Orediggers have already added their names to the list of all-time greats in numerous single-season and career categories. Starting with Bella Campos, she's the highest scoring freshman in program history and has passed Reese McDermott for fourth on the single-season scoring list with 16 and now trails Anna Evans' 2012 campaign for third all-time by one. She's also now tied for fifth all-time with Megan Woodworth for single-season points at 35 while also recording the 18th hat trick in program history and just the second in the postseason. Speaking of McDermott, her 2022 season with 15 goals now ranks fifth all-time while her 34 career goals have her just four back of Woodworth for third all-time. Her 80 points cement her hold on fourth on that list as she now trails Woodworth in that department by 40 while her 11 game-winning goals also rank fourth all-time. Ellise Putnam needs just one more assist to tie for the fourth-most in a season in program history while Landry Corbett is just outside the top five in career assists with 16. Between the pipes, Sadie Wolf is now third all-time in shutouts with 18, passing Sam Zumbro and is one shy of fifth for most shutouts in a season at 11. Her 0.38 GAA would tie for the second-lowest in a season while her career mark of 0.52 in almost 2,600 minutes would currently rank third-lowest in program history.
 
THEY'RE THE BEST AROUND
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced its major award winners and All-Conference teams on Sunday before the quarterfinals began and once again, the Orediggers had quite the haul. Three of the five major awards came to Golden this year, with Bella Campos being named Freshman of the Year, Natalie Rouse earning Defensive Player of the Year honors and Reese McDermott taking home Player of the Year accolades. Ellise Putnam, the RMAC assists leader this year, landed a spot on the First Team while Katie Koehler was a Second Team selection for the second consecutive season with Ava Harman rounding out the contingent with an Honorable Mention selection. Mines has now won the last three Freshman of the Year awards (McDermott Fall 2021, Afton Rasco 2022) and gone back-to-back with Defensive Player of the Year honors (Jordan Barnhart 2022) while the Player of the Year honor is the fourth in program history. Read more about the Orediggers' All-RMAC selections here.
 
HELLUVA ENGINEERS
RMAC academic honors for the 2023 season were announced on Thursday and once again, Mines was well-represented as Reese McDermott was named Academic Player of the Year for her efforts in the classroom, becoming the third player in program history to earn the award. Katie Koehler earned First Team All-Academic honors for the third consecutive season, while 16 other Orediggers were named to the league's Academic Honor Roll. Read more about the latest round of awards here.
 
LAST TWO STANDING
What started as a field of eight is now down to just two as Mines and Colorado Mesa will square off for the title of RMAC Tournament Champion and the silver cup that comes with. Both teams have showcased offensive firepower in their first two matches of the tournament, as the Orediggers have scored seven times while the Mavericks have hung up six. Both teams are coming off shutout wins by scores of 4-0 and 3-0 in the semifinals over Regis and Westminster respectively, but CMU had their hands full in the opening round against MSU Denver. Leading 3-0 after 51 minutes the Mavericks looked to be in control, but the Roadrunners staged a rally over the final 39 minutes and ended up just one goal shy of forcing overtime, falling by a score of 3-2. Meanwhile, in Mines' two wins over Fort Lewis and Regis, they allowed just two shots on goal while taking 23 themselves. With two of the top teams in the conference, region and country squaring off Sunday, regardless of the outcome its almost a guarantee it'll be an all-time classic.
 
THE SETUP
Set pieces always present prime scoring opportunities for teams, be it a free kick or a corner kick. But this season, Mines's set piece game has been one of the best in the country. After scoring on a free kick on the road at Colorado Mesa back on October 26, the Orediggers have now put the ball in cage off set pieces 16 times in 2023. One would be hard pressed to find another team at any level in the rest of the country with a success rate like that.
 
HATS OFF
Scoring three goals in a match is a rare and challenging feat. Doing it in the postseason raises the level of rarity and difficulty. But don't tell that to Bella Campos, as she turned in the 18th hat trick in Mines history as well as the second postseason trifecta all-time, joining Jackie Knott who did so in the 2016 RMAC quarterfinals against Western Colorado. Campos subbed on in Sunday's quarterfinal against Fort Lewis at the 29:11 mark, and scored just 53 seconds later at 30:04 on a diving header on a cross from Cloey Seltzer, the third time this season she has scored less than a minute after subbing on. Less than four minutes later, she scored again, this time forcing a turnover and stealing the ball away from FLC before firing a strike from right to left for her second goal. Then in the 73rd minute, Campos found herself on the back end of a corner kick from Callie Fuhr, finishing with a header going from right to left across goal for her third goal of the day and showing just why she was named RMAC Freshman of the Year earlier in the morning.
 
DISHING IT OUT
Speaking of assists, there are few better in the country at it than Mines, who currently ranks seventh in all of NCAA Division II with 2.60 assists per game and fifth in total assists with 52. Saint Rose leads the way with 61 assists while Belmont Abbey has 56 with USC Beaufort and Charleston each logging 55. Ellise Putnam, the team leader with nine assists on the season, now ranks tied for 13th in the country in that category. Suffice to say, the Orediggers are really good at playing team soccer, and not having to rely one person have to do all the work to put the ball in the back of the cage, a trend they will look to continue as postseason play begins.
 
LOOKING AT THE STATS
Few players anywhere have been as good or better late in the season than Bella Campos, who after Wednesday has scored in each of Mines' last seven matches and eight of the previous nine going back to October 8. The freshman now has 16 goals on the season along with four assists for 36 points and has three game-winners. Reese McDermott splashed her 11th goal and eighth assist of the year in the semifinals and is up to 30 points. Cloey Seltzer has also been a roll late in the season and is tied for third on the team with seven assists, recording three in the last three games and six in the last seven while also scoring twice for 15 points. Natalie Rouse (6G, 1A) and Katie Koehler (4G, 2A) are threats to score in the set piece game and lead a stellar defensive unit while Ava Harman (2G, 7A) and Ellise Putnam (2G, 9A) have also been major contributors in the offensive zone this season.
In goal, Sadie Wolf has been throwing up zeros for the last 945 minutes, not allowing a goal since September 24 against CSU Pueblo. The sophomore has worked eight solo shutouts since then and logged 1,406 minutes across 19 matches with 17 starts, making 25 saves against six goals allowed for a 0.38 GAA and .806 save percentage. On the year, Wolf is 14-2-2 with 10 solo shutouts while combining for another four. Backing her up this year primarily has been Keira Garcia, who has started twice in four matches for 225 minutes with five saves against one goal allowed. Emma Carstens and Allie Lundgren have also seen time and combined for 149 minutes and five saves with one goal allowed between them.
 
Collectively, the Orediggers have now outscored teams 59-8 this season and are averaging just shy of 3.00 goals per game while taking nearly 23 shots per contest and have limited teams to a mere 0.40 goals and 6.9 shots per game. They have 52 assists on their 59 goals and have combined for 35 saves in goal. They've taken 117 corner kicks while allowing just 45 and are 2-2 on penalties this season while not allowing an attempt to the opposition.
 
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
After a late-season losing streak that saw them slip from first to fourth in the standings, Colorado Mesa seems to have regained their form of late, picking up a 3-1 win over Westminster in their regular season finale before picking up two wins to advance to Sunday's championship match.
 
Sauvelyne Randel has been a big part of CMU's success all season and especially in the postseason, as she scored a goal and recorded an assist in both tournament games and going back to the regular season finale, has scored four times with three assists for 11 points. On the year, she leads the team in scoring with 13 goals and is tied for the team lead in assists with six. She's the only player for the Mavericks with double-digit goals and her 32 points are almost double the next person on the team. That next person is Kylie Wells, who has scored seven times with three assists for 17 points. Abby Fotheringham (5A, 4A) and Adessa Correa (4G, 3A) have also been involved this postseason and are ones to keep an eye on, as is Haley Klasner, who is tied with Randel atop the leaderboard with six assists. Overall, 14 different players have scored for CMU this year while an even dozen have at least one assist.
 
In goal, freshman Keely Wieczorek has been the everyday starter between the pipes for Colorado Mesa, logging 1,634 minutes in their 19 matches and making 50 saves against 14 goals allowed for a 0.77 GAA and a .781 save rate while posting a 15-3-1 record with seven solo shutouts. Back on October 26 against Mines, Wieczorek gave up four goals while making five saves against 20 shots from the Orediggers after giving up just six goals all season prior to that match. She's been backed up by Chloe Dody who has appeared in just three matches for 76 minutes and has two saves while not allowing a goal.
 
On the year, the Mavericks have outscored teams 48-14 and averaged 2.53 goals and 19.7 shots per match while allowing 0.74 goals and 8.1 shots. They have 31 assists on their 48 goals with 52 combined saves in goal and attempted 95 corner kicks while allowing only 64. When it comes to PKs, CMU is 4-7 on the year while opponents are 1-1.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Looking at the all-time series, Mines is 19-4-1 against Colorado Mesa and 9-2-0 when playing at home. The teams last met just over two weeks ago in Grand Junction back on October 26 in a contest that saw the Orediggers post a 4-0 win. Of those four losses in the series, three of those came in the first four meetings between the schools in the early years of the Oredigger program in 2006 and 2007. Since 2008, the blue and silver are 18-1-1 in the series with 13 shutouts. The teams last met in the postseason in the spring 2021 RMAC quarterfinals, a contest which resulted in a 1-0 win for Mines in Golden.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Win or lose Sunday, Mines is bound for the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship starting next week. They'll find out where they're heading and who they are playing during the tournament selection show scheduled for November 13 4:30 p.m. MT on NCAA.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's soccer on Twitter and Instagram 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.