(2) #4 Mines (14-2-3, 9-1-2 RMAC) vs. (3) #RV Regis (14-4-1, 9-2-1 RMAC) – Wednesday, 2 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network PPV]

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GET ANOTHER GAME
With one win under their belt in the postseason, the #4 Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team will look to pick up a second Wednesday afternoon at Stermole Stadium when they host third-seeded #RV Regis in semifinal action in a rematch of the 2022 tournament title game.
 
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 223-39-38. 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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
It was the Bella Campos show on Sunday in the quarterfinals against seventh-seeded Fort Lewis, as the freshman came off the bench to turn in a hat trick performance in 58 minutes off the bench, scoring twice within eight minutes of checking into the match in the first half before adding another score late in the second half to all but ice the win. Sadie Wolf and the defense worked their ninth shutout in a row, allowing 13 shots but just one on goal as they frustrated the Skyhawks whenever they did decide to work the ball in their offensive half. With the win, the Orediggers remain unbeaten in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament, improving to 10-0-1 in opening round play.
 
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. In the first numerical NCAA Regional Rankings of the season released last 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; 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 now tied fourth all-time in single-season goals with 15 along with Bella Campos, 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 17 in her young career and is now tied with Sam Zumbro (2013-16) for fourth 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.
 
AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR
The quarterfinal round of the 2023 RMAC Women's Soccer Championship saw plenty of tense moments and even an upset along the way, though none of those things happened in Golden on Sunday. Mines cruised to a 3-0 win over the seven seed Fort Lewis. The rest of the higher seeds had their hands full for the most part and saw one of them, the top seeded regular season champions UCCS, get upset by eighth-seeded Westminster 1-0 in Colorado Springs, with the Griffins netting the game winner in the 102nd minute of overtime. Three seed Regis had their hands full against the six seed CSU Pueblo, as they trailed the ThunderWolves for nearly 65 minutes after allowing an early goal. Following an ejection that saw CSUP have to finish the match with 10 players, the Rangers tied things in the 80th minute before scoring twice in the first overtime period to eke out the 3-1 win. Four seed Colorado Mesa looked to be on pace to cruise to an easy win over MSU Denver, leading 3-0 after 51 minutes, but the Roadrunners stormed back, getting within a goal in the final minute but just running out of time to rally as the Mavericks held on for a 3-2 win.
 
In the semifinals on Wednesday, Mines will host Regis while Westminster will head to Grand Junction to face Colorado Mesa. The winners of each match will meet Sunday at the site of the highest remaining seed to battle for the silver cup and the RMAC Tournament Title.
 
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.
 
TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
As the postseason begins, 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 (55), assists (49) 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 (77) and shots on goal (36) and is fourth in the conference in goals (10) and tied for second in assists (7) alongside teammate Ava Harman and Kailey Maness of MSU Denver. Bella Campos remains the leading scorer in the RMAC and is now up to 15 goals and 33 points while ranking third in the conference in shots (51) and trails only McDermott in shots on goal (28). 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 0.41 GAA is good for third.
 
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 Sunday afternoon 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.
 
DISTRIBUTING THE WEALTH
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 2.58 assists per game and sixth in total assists with 49. Saint Rose leads the way with 61 assists while Belmont Abbey has 56, USC Beaufort and Charleston each have 54 and Catawba has 50. 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
Bella Campos' sterling debut campaign continued Sunday as she added three more goals to her tally for the season and now has 15 on the year, good for a spot in the top 10 in all of NCAA Division II and tying Reese McDermott's single-season mark from last year that was good for fourth all-time in program history. The freshman also has three assists for 33 points and has done her damage on just 28 shots on goal. Speaking of McDermott, the RMAC Player of the Year has 27 points on 10 goals and seven assists with four game-winners, the most on the team. Center backs Natalie Rouse and Katie Koehler have six and four goals respectively while six others each have at least two goals to their ledgers. One of those six is Ellise Putnam, who leads the RMAC in assists with nine and another is Ava Harman, who has been a key part of the Orediggers' set piece success this year with seven assists. Cloey Seltzer has also emerged late and after Sunday has six dimes along with three goals. On the year, 13 different players have scored at least once for Mines.
 
Between the pipes, Sadie Wolf continues to hang up zeros and has not been scored upon since September 24 against CSU Pueblo. Since then, nearly 894 minutes have gone by without allowing a goal, including 45 minutes against Regis in the second half of the match back on October 1 that included two saves. The sophomore has started 16 times in 18 games for 1,316 minutes this season with 24 saves against six goals allowed for a GAA of 0.41 and an .800 save percentage, posting a record of 13-2-2 with nine solo shutouts. Keira Garcia was the main reserve keeper early in the season and started twice in four games for 225 minutes, making five saves and allowing one goal while posting one shutout. Emma Carstens and Allie Lundgren have combined for four appearances between them for 169 minutes with five saves and one goal allowed.
 
As a unit, the Orediggers have now outscored opponents 55-8 on the season and average 2.89 goals and 22.5 shots per match while allowing 0.42 goals and 7.0 shots to opponents. They have 49 assists on their 55 goals and have a combined 34 saves in goal. They have also taken 108 corner kicks compared to 42 by the opposition and are 2-2 on PKs while not allowing an attempt yet on the year.
 
SCOUTING REGIS
The Rangers had a bit of a scare Sunday against CSU Pueblo in the quarterfinals, having to rally in the closing minutes of regulation to tie things before scoring twice in overtime to advance, playing with a man-up advantage from the 78th minute on after a red card was issued to the ThunderWolves.
 
Leading the way for the Rangers is the duo of Natalie Bunch and Madeline Gardner, who have combined for almost half of the team's scoring output this season. Bunch has scored 11 times now following a goal on Sunday against CSU Pueblo and also has four assists for 26 points. Gardner meanwhile was one of the top freshmen in the conference this year and enters Wednesday with 10 goals and a team-high five assists for 25 points. Kelby Kuo had the clutch goal to tie things late in the second half against CSU Pueblo and now has seven on the season along with two assists for 14 points. She teamed up with Bunch to score the Rangers' goal last time out against Mines. Other players to keep an eye on include Sarah Wynn (5G, 3A, 2 GW) and Stella Straubing (4G, 4A) along with Alexis Gaffney, who scored the game-winner to advance to the semifinals.
 
In goal, three players have all logged minutes for Regis, with Grace Glover and Kayla Arucan seeing the bulk of the action. Arucan played the full 90 against Mines early this season and made five saves against three goals. She came on in relief in the second half and overtime on Sunday, making two saves without allowing a goal over the final 65 minutes. For the year, she has started seven times in 12 games with 41 saves against 13 goals allowed, the most on the team, while posting a record of 6-3-0 with one solo shutout and a 1.56 GAA and .759 save rate in 752 minutes. Grace Glover has started 11 times in 13 games and was lifted at the half against CSUP and comes into the week with a team-high 42 saves against just six goals allowed in 768 minutes with a GAA of 0.70 and an .875 save percentage to go with a record of 7-0-1 with two solo shutouts. Baleigh Baker is the third goalie who has played, logging 210 minutes in five games with a start with six saves against four goals allowed.
 
As a team, Regis has outscored opponents 53-23 this season and averages 2.79 goals and 16.1 shots per game while allowing 1.21 goals and 13.1 shots to opponents. They have been issued 16 yellow cards and recorded 31 assists on their 53 goals while combining for 89 saves in goal. They've attempted 90 corner kicks compared to just 64 for opponents and are 3-5 on penalties this season while the opposition is 2-2.
 
SERIES HISTORY
In the first meeting of the year back on October 1, Regis raced out to an early lead in the opening minutes against a non-standard starting eleven for the Orediggers on senior day, but Paola Rubi, Reese McDermott and Laura Butler were able to secure a win for the senior class, scoring three unanswered goals while the defense allowed just nine shots with three on goal over the duration of the contest. That win marked the third in a row in the series for Mines and ninth in the last 12 meetings, during which they have gone 9-1-2. Overall, the Orediggers lead the series 21-9-2 with a record of 10-4-1 at home. The last postseason meeting came in the 2022 RMAC Tournament title game which resulted in a 2-0 Mines win.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Should the Orediggers win Wednesday, they will host the RMAC Tournament title on Sunday November 12 against the winner of Colorado Mesa and Westminster. 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 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.