DURANGO, Colo. – Back on the road Friday for the final weekend of their four-match road trip, the top-ranked Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team lined up opposite Fort Lewis at Dirks Field. After surviving an early scare by the Skyhawks (6-2-1, 3-1-0), the Orediggers (10-0-1, 4-0-1) erupted to tie their season high of five goals with Reese McDermott leading the way to a 5-1 victory.
 
Fort Lewis nearly went on the board inside the opening minute as a shot from Abila Tapia found the back of the net, but not before the assistant referee's flag went up for offsides. After play resumed for an official stoppage, FLC's Sabrina Reyes put Allie Lundgren to work early with a shot from the far side of the field but the junior made the save at the post before returning the ball into play.
 
Mines ended up getting the first goal of the contest in the 13th minute, getting a fortuitous bounce to assist their cause. Cloey Seltzer set things up with a run up the near side, racing inside the box and shooting around a defender that was saved by Riley Bravin but deflected high off the crossbar and back into play. Kaitlyn Manalili collected the loose ball and quickly passed back to center, finding Gaby Guerrero for a shot that deflected off an FLC defender, leaving Bravin with no play as the ball trickled across the goal line for the lead.
 
The Skyhawks had a prime chance to answer in the 18th as Ashlyn Salas managed to work her way through the Mines defense and fire a strike at goal. Lundgren made the initial save but gave everyone a scare as the ball momentarily caromed back into play before she recovered to corral the lose ball and prevent a follow-up shot.
 
A second Orediggers goal went on the board on the next trip down the field in the 19th minute immediately after a Skyhawk foul. Seltzer collected the free kick from Ava Harman and played a ball from the near corner into the box to find none other than Reese McDermott, who chipped it past Bravin into the lower right corner of goal to double the lead.
 
Fort Lewis did manage to trim the lead in the closing moments of the opening period, as they found themselves the recipient of a good bounce over the hands of Lundgren on a free kick into the box by Elizabeth David to make it 2-1 in the 40th minute.
 
The 42nd minute saw a pair of shots from both teams with saves being made by both Bravin and Lundgren against Jolie Jiricek and Abigail Nkrumah, with the Lundgren's save being the more spectacular of the two as she punched it clear with a high leaping save to maintain the advantage.
 
Right before the break, Mines forced a turnover by the Skyhawks deep in their own end as Laura Butler displaced Haley Stafford before firing shot that was blocked right away by the defense. The rebound came back out to Bella Campos who quickly dished to a wide-open Kaitlyn Manalili for the finish in the final minute of the period to make it a 3-1 game heading to halftime.
 
Not even three minutes after play resumed in the second, the Orediggers found the next again against new keeper Katlyn Rosenbaum. Once again Seltzer collected a long ball from Harman before playing a cross from the far corner back to the center for McDermott, who scored her second goal of the afternoon to make it a 4-1 game.
 
Things settled down following the fourth Mines goal of the contest with just five combined shots over the following 20-plus minutes, with two from Ellise Putnam and Sam Forde going on target but not being able to find their way past Rosenbaum as she made a pair of saves around the 70-minute mark.
 
Ellise Putnam all but wrapped things up in the 82nd minute. Following a Jolie Jiricek throw from in front of the Mines bench, the senior received a pass from Campos before making some space and finishing with a right to left shot that tucked inside the far post to make it a 5-1 game.
 
With the outcome decided, the Orediggers and Skyhawks played out the stretch with their reserves as with the sun setting. Anna Tucker and Ann Spence both had chances from close in in the waning moments, but Lundgren was there for the save on the first while the second missed high over the crossbar.  As day turned to night, the clock struck zero as Mines notched their 10th win of the season and remained unbeaten in RMAC play.
 
NOTABLES
-Guerrero's goal was the first of her collegiate career and comes in her 25th match on just her ninth shot of the season
-McDermott notched her 11th and 12th goals of the season, eclipsing her mark from last season and raising her career point total to 107
-The senior now has 46 goals in her time wearing a Mines uniform and now finds herself just nine back of Anna Evans (2010-13) for second all-time, while being just 13 points behind Megan Woodworth (2009-12) for third all-time
-Manalili's career season continued as she scored for the second time in as many matches and added to her career-best assist total on the first goal of the night, recording her fourth of the season and seventh of her career
-Seltzer's assists were her second and third of the season and the ninth and 10th of her career, all of which have come in the last two seasons
-Campos got credited with the assist on the Manalili goal, her third of the season, seventh of her career as she moves past Haley Cole (2014-17) for solo possession of ninth all-time in program history with 47 points
-Putnam scored her third goal of the season, setting a new single-season best with the ninth score of her career
-Lundgren finished the afternoon with five saves in goal
-Paola Rubi played a season-high 48 minutes
-The Orediggers tied their highest offensive performance of the season with five goals, last done on September 15 against West Texas A&M
-Mines outshot Fort Lewis 15-13 in the match and 10-6 in shots on target
-Butler and Forde attempted a team-high three shots as nine different players took aim in the match for the Orediggers
 
UP NEXT
Mines closes out their four-game road trip on Sunday at 12 p.m. in Gunnison as they face Western Colorado.
 
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.