(2) #7 Mines (13-2-3, 9-1-2 RMAC) vs. (7) Fort Lewis (9-3-6, 5-3-4 RMAC) – Sunday, 1 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV]

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DEFENDING THE CROWN
While they may not have been able to defend their regular season championship in 2023, the #7 Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team will look to keep the tournament title in Golden as they embark on the postseason journey Sunday November 5 at 1 p.m. at Stermole Stadium against the seven seed Fort Lewis in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's quarterfinal 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 222-39-38. His .806 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.
 
WEEK 9 REVIEW
Mines ended the regular season in about as good a manner as anyone could hope for, picking up two more wins on the road to extend their winning streak to seven matches and their shutout streak to eight by virtue of wins over then fourth-ranked Colorado Mesa and Westminster by scores of 4-0 and 2-0 respectively. Natalie Rouse scored the go-ahead goal Thursday in Grand Junction off a free kick by Ava Harman before Reese McDermott, Bella Campos and Cloey Seltzer all piled on in the second half while the defense stymied one of the best offenses in the conference this season. Sunday in Salt Lake City, it was McDermott who had the game-winning penalty kick shortly after play resumed in the second half before Campos scored on a diving header from Seltzer as Sadie Wolf and the defense orchestrated an effort that allowed only six shots to the Griffins.
 
WEEKLY AWARDS WRAPUP
The final RMAC weekly awards of the season came out on Thursday following the conclusion of regular season play and for the fifth time in 2023, Natalie Rouse was named Defensive Player of the Week while Sadie Wolf took home Goalkeeper of the Week honors for the first time in her career. Along with Reese McDermott who landed Offensive Player of the Week honors on October 3, Mines was recognized in five of nine weeks in the regular season with at least one weekly award winner and finished the season with seven total accolades while no other team in the conference this season had more than five.
 
IN THE POLLS
After picking up a Top 10 win on the road and closing the regular season with a pair of wins, Mines vaulted back into the Top 10 in the latest United Soccer Coaches rankings this week, checking in at #7 for the second time this season and first since September 5. Colorado Mesa dropped from fourth to #18 while Dallas Baptist and Seattle Pacific remained in the polls at #14 and #25 respectively with UCCS and Regis each earning votes. In the first numerical NCAA Regional Rankings of the season also released this week, the Orediggers found themselves #2 in the South Central Region behind DBU while the rest of the eight teams comprised of Texas Woman's UCCS, Colorado Mesa, 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.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Entering her third season as an Oredigger, Reese McDermott has already penned her name into the record books when it comes to career marks in several places; after this weekend, she now stands alone in fourth all-time in both scoring with 33 career goals and points with 77 to her name, passing Nicole LaTourette (2016-19) in the process and now moving into sole possession of fourth with 11 game-winning goals, passing Jennifer Kendall (2015-18). She's also fourth all-time in single-season goals with 15, two behind Anna Evans' 17 in 2012. Landry Corbett is knocking on the door for the top five in career assists, as her 16 are two behind Kayla Mitchell (2006-09). When it comes to shutouts, Sadie Wolf now has 16 in her young career and a few weeks back passed Sierra Roth (2018-21) for fifth all-time in program history and is now just one behind Sam Zumbro (2013-16) for fourth.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
So the 2023 postseason is officially here. Let's look at the field, first for the 2023 edition of the RMAC Women's Soccer Championship. UCCS claimed the regular season title with a win on the final day of the regular season and enters the event as the top seed, hosting eighth-seeded Westminster at 1 p.m. in Colorado Springs. Mines earned the two seed and hosts seven seed Fort Lewis, also at 1 p.m. Three seed Regis hosts the six seed CSU Pueblo, also at a 1 p.m. while the final match of the day features the four seed Colorado Mesa and fifth seeded MSU Denver at 3 p.m. The semifinals will be both be held on Wednesday November 8 with the title match taking place either Saturday November 11 or Sunday November 12, depending on the host for that match.
 
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. With another goal off a free kick variety on Thursday against Colorado Mesa, 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.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
With the regular season winding down, Mines as a team along with several individuals can be found among the top of the RMAC stat sheet. The Orediggers are the league leaders in goals (52), assists (47) and were the only team in the regular season to allow fewer than 10 goals, letting just eight shots find the back of the net.
 
Individually, Reese McDermott leads the conference in shots (75) and shots on goal (34) while the regular season tied for third in scoring (10) and tied for second in assists (7) alongside teammate Ava Harman. Bella Campos enters the postseason as the RMAC scoring leader with 12 goals and is tied with McDermott for the conference lead in points with 27 while ranking sixth in the conference in shots (44) and tied for fifth in shots on goal (24). Ellise Putnam is top of the class when it comes to assists with nine while Natalie Rouse is tied for seventh in scoring with six goals. Sadie Wolf's six goals allowed are good for the second-fewest in the league while her 0.44 GAA is good for third.
 
BALLIN' BELLA
To say Bella Campos is off to a good start in her first season of soccer at the collegiate level could be a candidate for understatement of the year. The freshman out of Highland Village, Texas has appeared in all 18 matches for Mines and made four starts, and after scoring in each match this weekend, remains the team and RMAC leader in goals with 12 and remains tied for the team lead in points with Reese McDermott with at 27. She scored twice in her debut match against San Francisco state and did so again on September 29 against Black Hills State, while dishing out two assists October 1 against Regis for her first career multi-assist game. So far, she has either scored or assisted on a goal to record a point in 12 matches and is one of the leading candidates at this point for RMAC Freshman of the Year along with Regis' Madeline Gardner. Whoever wins that award might be the one who ends up scoring the most, finishing on the higher-placing team in the standings or both.
 
DISTRIBUTING THE WEALTH
Speaking of assists, there are few better in the country at it than Mines, who currently ranks sixth in all of NCAA Division II with 2.61 assists per game and sixth in total assists with 47. Saint Rose leads the way with 59 assists while Belmont Abbey has 56, USC Beaufort has 54, Charleston has 52 and Catawba has 49. Ellise Putnam, the team leader with nine assists on the season, now ranks tied for 11th 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
One of the most statistically dominant teams in all of Division II on both sides of the ball this season, Mines enters the postseason with some impressive numbers on the stat sheet. Freshman Bella Campos leads the team and the conference with 12 goals with three assists for 27 points while Reese McDermott has 10 goals and seven assists, also for 27 points. Six other Orediggers have double-digit point totals this season, including Ellise Putnam who leads the team and the RMAC with nine assists while scoring twice herself, Natalie Rouse who has scored six times from her center back spot this season, all on set pieces while adding an assist and Ava Harman, who has been the facilitator more often than not on set pieces with seven assists and two goals.
 
Cloey Seltzer is up to five assists on the season now along with three goals herself while Landry Corbett (3 goals, 4 assists) and Katie Koehler (4 goals, 2 assists) each have 10 points while Afton Rasco is close behind at eight points on three goals and two assists.
 
In goal, Sadie Wolf has been masterful this season at directing the defense, posting eight solo shutouts to match her high from last season and has not been scored upon in her last 804 minutes in goal, going back to CSU Pueblo on September 24. For the season, the sophomore has logged 1,226 minutes and made 23 saves against six goals allowed for a 0.44 GAA and a .793 save rate. The rest of the Orediggers' three keepers have all seen action to some extent this season, led by freshman Keira Garcia who has started twice in four matches and made five saves against one goal allowed for a 0.40 GAA and .833 save percentage in 225 minutes. Emma Carstens and Allie Lundgren have combined for four appearances and have five saves and one goal allowed between them in 169 total minutes.
 
As a team, Mines outscored opponents 52-8 in the regular season, averaging 2.89 goals and 22.7 shots per match while allowing just 0.44 goals and 6.7 shots. They recorded 47 assists on their 52 goals and combined for 33 saves in goal while attempting 105 corners kicks to just 40 for opponents. Should it come to it in the postseason, the Orediggers are 2-2 on penalties this season while the opposition has yet to attempt one.
 
SCOUTING FORT LEWIS
The Skyhawks ended the regular season winners of four of their final six matches, going 4-1-1 with their only loss being a 2-1 decision to Regis while also playing MSU Denver to a scoreless draw. Last season, FLC saw their season come to an end in the RMAC Tournament at the hands of UCCS by a final score of 2-1, as the Mountain Lions scored the go-ahead goal with only four seconds left in regulation.
 
Entering the postseason as the seventh seed for the second year in a row, Fort Lewis is led on the offensive end by Aubrey Swindle and Gabi Meraz-Fishbein, who have each scored four times in 2023. Swindle is also tied for the team lead with three assists on the season along with Elizabeth David and Haley Stafford, who each have one goal to the ledgers as well this season.
 
Josie Coulter, Ashlyn Salas and Anika Scherer are the other three Skyhawks with multiple goals this season, as a total of 16 different players have combined to score the team's 25 goals. Helping facilitate those goals have been Sabrina Reyes, Ann Spence and Danielle Gonzalez, each with two assists while four other players each have one.
 
In goal, the tag team duo of Riley Bravin and Katlyn Rosenbaum has proved to be an effective one, as those two have combined for 10 shutouts this season and just 12 goals allowed. Bravin, who has started 17 times in 18 matches, has played the full 90 minutes in goal just once this season, coming all the way back on September 14, usually playing the opening 45 minutes before ceding to Rosenbaum. In 863 minutes this season, Bravin has allowed just three goals while making 32 saves for a 0.31 GAA and a .914 save percentage against 97 shots faced. Meanwhile, Rosenbaum has started once in 17 matches for 757 minutes, allowing nine goals while making 26 saves for a GAA of 1.07 and a .743 save percentage against 82 shots faced.
 
For the season, FLC has outscored teams 25-12 and is averaging 1.39 goals and 13.9 shots per match while allowing just 0.67 goals and 9.9 shots to opponents. They have 19 assists on their 25 goals scored and have combined for 58 saves in goal. They have attempted 80 corner kicks while allowing just 48 to opponents and are 2-3 on penalties while ceding 3-4 attempts from the spot to the opposition.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday afternoon will be the second meeting of the season between the Orediggers and Skyhawks, with the previous matchup coming back on October 5 which resulted in a scoreless draw. In that match, Mines outshot Fort Lewis 27-5 overall and 5-3 in shots on goal as the visitors employed a very conservative game plan, holding a slight edge in overall possession, yet spending 69% of their total possessions with the ball on their side of midfield. Looking at the series, the Orediggers are now 18-7-3 all-time and 11-1-1 when playing at home. The last time the two teams met in the postseason came in the quarterfinals of the 2019 edition of the RMAC Tournament, which saw Mines win 3-0.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should the Orediggers win Sunday, they will host a semifinal match against the winner of Regis & CSU Pueblo on Wednesday November 5. With a loss, Mines will wait and see where they'll be heading for the opening round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship. The selection show is scheduled for 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.