#4 Mines (0-0-0, 0-0-0 RMAC) vs. San Francisco State (0-0-0, 0-0-0 CCAA) – Friday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#4 Mines (0-0-0, 0-0-0 RMAC) vs. #RV Chico State (0-0-0, 0-0-0 CCAA) – Saturday, 12 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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BACK IN THE SADDLE
After a long offseason, the Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team kicks off its 2023 season this weekend at Stermole Soccer Stadium, welcoming a pair of schools from the state of California for the opening weekend of the new campaign as they'll take on San Francisco State Friday night before lining up opposite #RV Chico State for a Sunday afternoon matinee.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets are available for pre-purchase at minesathletics.com/tickets as well as on the day of the event at the gate. Parking in Lot K is free after 5 p.m. during the week and on weekends. Additional parking is available in Lot Q located at Elm and West Campus Drive and the parking garage located at 14th and Maple Streets. Visit mines.edu/parking for a parking map.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network and will have live stats through SIDEARM.
 
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 209-37-35. 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 back line last fall that allowed just 0.74 goals and 9.7 shots per match while also scoring four times herself.
 
HELLO, MY NAME IS…
Nine newcomers join the Orediggers for 2023, including a pair of Division I transfers and seven freshmen. Natalie Rouse arrives at Mines after two seasons at UNLV while Golden native Lia Zavalsky returns home after spending two years at Middle Tennessee State. They are joined by freshmen Isabella Campos, Finley Ewald, Lindsay Jeans, Keira Garcia, Izzy Sontheimer and Allyson Townsend. Read up on the newcomers for this season by reviewing signing day here.
 
2022 REVIEW
The 2022 season was good to the Orediggers and saw them sweep the RMAC regular season and tournament titles as they earned hosting rights for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship. After a second round win to advance to the third round, Mines avenged an early season loss to Dallas Baptist and knocked off the #1 team in the country and top overall seed to win the South Central regional title and advance to the national quarterfinals, where they ultimately fell to eventual national champion Western Washington.
 
Boss Kevin Fickes was named RMAC Coach of the Year while he and his staff of Shannon Devoe, April Kater and Brent McGee were named Regional Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches. 2022 co-captain Jordan Banrhart was named Defensive Player of the Year while Afton Rasco was named the Freshman of the Year in the RMAC and Second Team All-League following a seven-goal season along with three assists as she made 11 starts in 20 matches.
 
All-American Reese McDermott was the star of the season in 2022 though, as the sophomore erupted for 15 goals and assisted on an additional two as she logged 1,278 minutes in 21 matches with four game-winning goals. Laura Butler also shined in the offensive third last year, scoring seven times along with Rasco while tallying six assists and a team-best five game-winners. Paola Rubi turned in a five-goal campaign with two assists a season ago, while First Team Academic All-American Katie Koehler, who scored four times in her role on the backline, including a stretch of three goals in three matches. Postseason hero Ellise Putnam notched two goals and four assists season, while Landry Corbett tallied a team-leading seven assists. Colleen Tyrrell also added five assists and a goal last season.
 
Three different netminders were utilized by Mines last season with the breakout star being Sadie Wolf, who ended up being the third of three keepers used due to injury and illness and after being inserted into the lineup October 2, she never left, starting each of the final 13 matches of the season to go 11-1-1 with eight shutouts and 52 saves to lead the team against 136 shots faced, allowing just nine goals for a GAA of 0.68 and an .852 save percentage. Emma Carstens started the first nine matches of the season and went 6-1-2 with five shutouts and 20 saves over that span, while Allie Lundgren also appeared in in two matches with one start and a shutout to her credit.
 
Looking at the numbers from last fall, Mines was a force to be reckoned with, going unbeaten in RMAC play with a 10-0-2 mark and going 12-0-0 within the confines of Stermole Stadium. They went 3-2-1 against Top 25 teams and went 77 days between losses. The Orediggers outscored the opposition 57-17, putting up nearly 2.5 goals and 18.1 shots per game, while allowing 0.74 goals and 9.7 shots to opponents. The Orediggers also tallied 41 assists and made 76 saves in goals and were a perfect 3-3 from the penalty spot.
 
RUN IT BACK
26 players return from last season's club including nine starters and two more players who started double digit matches. That group is led by the leading returning scorer in the RMAC Reese McDermott, who was just one of two players league-wide last season with double-digit goals. Three of the top four scorers from last season are also back as Laura Butler and Afton Rasco each scored seven goals in 2022 while Paola Rubi added five more. A further eight goal scorers will all be back in uniform for Mines in 2023 to help set the tone for the offense, while defensively the goalkeeping situation is on firm footing too, as all three netminders who saw action last fall will be competing for time between the pipes in 2023.
 
IN THE POLLS
The National Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll was released the first week of August and had the Orediggers tabbed fourth in the country ahead of the 2023 season, exactly where they finished the 2022 season. Several opponents on the schedule this season also appeared in the first rankings of the season, with Western Washington ranked #1, Dallas Baptist at #7 and UCCS at #22 while Chico State is receiving votes. The RMAC Preseason Poll, announced August 16 also had the Orediggers leading the way, as the RMAC coaches picked Mines to repeat as champions with nine first place votes, followed by UCCS, Regis, Westminster and MSU Denver in the top five.

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.
 
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO STATE
The Gators are coming off a challenging season in 2022 that saw them go 4-9-5 overall and 2-5-4 in CCAA action to finish 10th in the league last season. Third-year head coach John DeMartini brings back 17 players off last year's club and welcomes a whopping 15 newcomers to the Gators this season, of which 12 are freshmen. Junior Brynn Reyes is the top returning scorer and will certainly be expected to take on a larger role this season, having found the net twice last season in mostly a reserve role with 654 minutes played over 15 matches, while senior Alyna Flores is back after scoring once and assisting on two others last season in 1,296 minutes. Samantha Shim, Alexa Avelar and Carissa Capinin all found the net last season and bring with them a collective wealth of starting experience. Between the pipes, SFSU look to a young quartet of netminders to get the job done, of which one has seen collegiate action. That one is sophomore Kylie Tone, who started once in five matches and logged 206 minutes while allowing just two goals against 25 shots faced with 11 saves for a GAA of 0.88 and an .846 save percentage as she went 1-1-0. She's joined by fellow sophomore Kayli Cokley and freshmen Bella Miseroy and Cameryn Nunn.
 
Last season, the Gators were outscored 22-12 in 18 matches but did register 14 assists on those 12 goals. Opponents held them to just nine shots per contest, while their goalies tallied 77 saves.
 
SCOUTING CHICO STATE
Chico State will come to town Sunday after they open their season Friday night at Regis. The Wildcats went 9-5-5 for the year and 5-3-3 in CCAA action to finish fourth in the league and advanced to the tournament semifinals before seeing their season end against Sonoma State. Juniors Piper Matson and Brynn Howard each accounted for three goals last season and are the leading returning scorers for Chico State coming in the new season. Fellow juniors Natalie Mendoza and Mikayla Robertson also return having scored twice each a season ago as do four other Wildcats who all scored a goal apiece in 2022. One of those four scorers is netminder Emma Hofmann, who started all 19 games in goal last season and went 9-5-5 with 10 shutouts and 61 saves against 191 shots faced, allowed just 10 goals for a 0.53 GAA and an .859 save rate.
 
2022 saw Chico state outscore the opposition 22-10 in 19 matches as they also outshot teams 256-191, putting up 13.5 tries per match. They amassed 16 assists on their 22 goals and went 1-2 from the penalty spot.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday night will be the third meeting between the Gators and Orediggers and the second to be take place at Stermole Stadium, with Mines taking each of the first two meetings with a pair of shutouts by scores of 3-0 and 2-0 back in 2018 and 2019. Sunday will also be the third meeting with Chico State in program history and second at home, as Mines is 1-0-1 in the series with a scoreless double overtime draw in 2018 before snagging a 2-1 win at Stermole back in 2019.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers continue their season-opening six-match home stand next weekend against a pair of teams from last season's NCAA Tournament, with Angelo State returning to town for a Thursday evening bout following an exit in the second round of the tournament hosted in Golden before Sunday afternoon sees a rematch of last season's South Central Regional title match against Dallas Baptist,
 
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.