#1 Mines (13-0-1, 7-0-1) at New Mexico Highlands (2-9-2, 0-6-1) – Friday, 3 p.m. – Las Vegas, N.M. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]
#1 Mines (13-0-1, 7-0-1) at Adams State (2-9-1, 0-7-1) – Sunday, 1 p.m. – Alamosa, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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WESTBOUND AND DOWN
For the final time in the 2024 regular season, the Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team will take to the road as they'll once again head west to take on a pair of opponents near the bottom of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings, starting with New Mexico Highlands Friday afternoon before stopping through Alamosa on the return home for a Sunday afternoon clash with Adams State.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Both matches this weekend will be streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available through Sidearm for both matches. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
WEEK 7 RECAP
In their return to Stermole Stadium last weekend, Mines played their first home matches in program history as the top-ranked team in the nation and did not disappoint the home faithful, picking up a pair of wins over Colorado Christian and #RV MSU Denver by scores of 5-0 and 2-1.
 
Friday night in cold and wet conditions, five different players scored for the Orediggers in a rout of the Cougars. Kaitlyn Manalili kicked things over in the 29th minute and was followed 17 seconds later by Reese McDermott. Bella Campos got on the board early in the second half followed by Ava Harman's header off a free kick before Ariana Ahumada scored her first career goal in her season debut. Jolie Jiricek added a pair of assists while Afton Rasco added another to her tally as well.
 
Sunday was another instant classic against the Roadrunners in a match that had all the feel of a postseason preview. Cloey Seltzer teamed up with Manalili 20 minutes in to take the early lead before MSUD leveled the match in the 65th minute. A frenetic final 66 seconds culminated with Mines scored the go-ahead goal with just seven seconds left in regulation as McDermott scored on a free kick from 20 yards out after playing a three-woman game atop the penalty area with Harman and Seltzer for the game-winner.
 
RULES RESET
It wasn't too long ago that the NCAA implemented new changes to the soccer rules with the last set of changes coming in 2022. Now in 2024, there's been more tweaks to the rulebook, including at least a partial revision of one of the 2022 changes. First up is an adjustment to the substitution rules in the second half and overtime, when applicable. To avoid clock manipulation by teams that are ahead or teams that are tied late in a match, all substitutions within the final 15 minutes of regulation and any made during overtime will result in the clock being stopped. The second change affects overtime during the postseason, as sudden victory (otherwise known as the "Golden Goal") has been reinstated. In addition, video review has been expanded to review all penalty kick situations, all straight red cards events, denial of obvious goal-scoring opportunity situations and any potential offside violations in goal-scoring situations.
 
AT THE HELM
2024 marks the 15th season leading Mines for boss Kevin Fickes, the program's winningest head coach. With a career mark of 235-41-39 (.808), he ranks sixth in all of the NCAA and third in Division II among head coaches with at least five years of experience when it comes to winning percentage. One of two RMAC coaches with 200 career victories, under his direction Mines has overseen 36 All-America selections, 17 Academic All-America selections, 75 all-conference honorees and 25 RMAC major award winners. Fickes has also guided Mines to six RMAC regular season titles and nine RMAC Tournament crowns and made 15 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
THE CAPTAINS
The three Orediggers who wore the captain's 'C' in 2023 will do so again in 2024 as Ava Harman, Katie Koehler and Reese McDermott will all reprise their roles this fall.
 
Harman, a fifth-year player, started all 22 matches last season, logging a career-best marks with two goals and seven assists with both goals being game winners. Going back to her freshman season in the spring of 2020, Harman has started 68 of 72 matches in her career entering this fall.
 
Koehler, another fifth-year player, tied her career high with four goals last fall while also registering the first two assists of her career from her center back spot after starting 21 of 22 matches. Like Harman, she brings a wealth of experience and has started 69 times in her 72 matches played for over 6,000 minutes through four seasons.
 
McDermott enters her fourth and final season at Mines as one of the greatest to ever don the Silver & Blue with her named dotted across the program's record book. The reigning RMAC Player of the Year, former Freshman of the Year and three-time First Team All-RMAC selection, she scored 11 times with a career-high eight assists in 2023 with four game-winners while starting 21 times in 22 matches. Another experienced veteran, the striker started 59 times in 63 matches over the course of her first three seasons.
 
IN THE POLLS
It was a close one, but in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll Mines was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the league in 2024, earning seven first place votes while reigning champions UCCS earned six. Colorado Mesa was picked to finish third with Regis and MSU Denver rounding out the top five.
 
The Orediggers remained atop this week's United Soccer Coaches Poll for the fourth consecutive week. There was some shuffling behind the Mines this week as Columbus State and Ashland both moved up one spot each to second and third while Cal Poly Pomona dropped to fourth after a Sunday draw with Cal State Domginguez Hills to snap a three-match winning streak. Adelphi entered the top five this week moving up one spot from sixth while last week's number five Concordia Irvine slid all the way to 11th by way of a draw with Chaminade in their lone action of the week.
 
Colorado Mesa remained at #22 in this week's poll while MSU Denver continued to earn votes.
 
ASSESSING THE STANDINGS
Two and a half weeks remain in the regular season when it comes to RMAC women's soccer in 2024 and the race for the top spot is as tight as can be. All 13 teams have either four or five matches remaining on their docket as they jockey for the eight spots in the postseason.
 
Finishing first means more than ever this year as the regular season champion gets a bye all the way through to the tournament semifinals in 2024. Currently, Mines holds that distinction with a mark of 7-0-1 with 22 points followed closely by last year's double champions, Colorado Mesa at 7-0-0 with 21 points. MSU Denver is third at 6-2-0 with 18 points while Regis has seemed to find their footing of late and now stands at 4-3-1 with 13 points.
 
Westminster checks in fifth at 3-1-3 with 12 points while Fort Lewis (3-3-1) and Colorado Christian (3-4-1) are tied for sixth with 10 points apiece. Rounding out the top eight is UCCS, who after an extremely uncharacteristic start to the season is now 3-4-0 with nine points.
 
Western Colorado (2-3-2, 8 PTS) is currently the first team out in ninth with CSU Pueblo (2-4-1, 7 PTS) and Black Hills State (2-5-1, 7 PTS) tied for 10th in the standings. New Mexico Highlands (0-6-1, 1 PT) and Adams State (0-7-0, 0 PTS) bring up the rear and are likely looking to put 2024 behind them and look ahead to next fall.
 
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
During the 90 minutes that comprise a soccer match during throughout the year and whatever additional time is needed to determine a winner in the postseason, team try and maximize every second to gain an advantage. Having highly skilled players who know how to navigate around the field efficiently to find their teammates and manufacture chances aids in that endeavor to a high degree. In the case of the Orediggers, Reese McDermott is one of those skilled players and following last Sunday, has added another time-based accomplishment to her already extensive list of accomplishments. The senior from Houston now holds the following records when it comes to timing and scoring:

                Fastest Goal To Start A Match
                1. 0:35 vs. UCCS, 11/13/22
                T2. 0:46 vs. Westminster, 10/2/22
                Fastest Consecutive Goals, Same Player
                0:29 at Saint Martin's, 9/20/24
                Latest Goal In Regulation
                89:53 vs. #RV MSU Denver, 10/27/24
                Latest Game-Winner In Regulation
                89:53 vs. #RV MSU Denver, 10/27/24
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS, PART I
When it's all said and done, Reese McDermott will go down as one of the all-time greats to ever play at Mines. Over the weekend, the senior from Houston continued her march up the program record books, taking over sole possession of third place all-time with 15 game-winning goals, passing Megan Woodworth (2009-12). After scoring five times in the last three games, she's also on the cusp of becoming the third 50-goal scorer in program history and would join Kayla Mitchell (2006-09) and Anna Evans (2010-13) as the only other players to do so. Additionally, McDermott is now just eight goals shy of tying Evans for second all-time and is 11 points behind Woodworth for third in all-time points.
 
Bella Campos might not be scoring at the rate she did last year, but the sophomore is still posting a solid season in 2024 with five goals and four assists, tying her mark from last year as she now has 50 points following her goal on Sunday. That puts her just one behind Brooke Stoermer (2014-17) for eighth, three back of Jennifer Kendall (2015-18) for seventh and four back of Emily Garnier (2014-17) for sixth. With plenty of soccer still left this season, there's certainly a chance Campos could continue to gain ground.
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS, PART II
While not seeing much time of late in goal, Sadie Wolf is still on track to be one of the top keepers in program history. Already the owner of 19 shutouts, good for fourth all-time, her career GAA of 0.59 is also good for third in the record books while she owns the longest consecutive scoreless minutes streak of 996:02 which she set last fall from September 24-November 12 and is tied for the second-most consecutive full shutouts with five.
 
Fellow netminder Allie Lundgren has emerged this season and finds her name in the record books with six shutouts, good for eighth all time and one back of Penny Rogers (2008-11) for seventh.
 
When it comes to assists, McDermott along with Ellise Putnam are both closing in on top five status. Both have 15 dimes in their careers and trail Mitchell by three for fifth all-time.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Reese McDermott added to her RMAC-leading goal total over the weekend and ran her scoring streak to five consecutive matches as she enters this weekend with 15 goals and three assists for 33 points. Bella Campos has six goals and four assists for 16 points while Ava Harman netted her fourth score of the season to go along with her two dimes for 10 points.
 
The trio of Kaitlyn Manalili, Afton Rasco and Ellise Putnam all have three goals each and a combined 10 assists with Manalili leading the team with five. Laura Butler has two scores to her tally while Cloey Seltzer and Ariana Ahumada joined Natalie Rouse and Gaby Guerrero in the score book with their first goals of the season.
 
Seltzer also has four assists along with Campos while Jolie Jircek now has three on the season following a pair Friday night. Putnam, Butler and Lauren Clingman all have two each while freshman Jordan Bowermaster has one in her debut season.
 
Allie Lundgren turned in her sixth solo shutout of the season Friday night and is over the 1,000-minute mark for the first time in her career this season, having started 11 of 12 appearances for 1,024 minutes and making 30 saves against for goals for a GAA of 0.35 and an .882 save rate against 75 shots faced. Sadie Wolf has one shutout of her own in four matches with three starts and has made seven saves against one goal allowed in 236 minutes for a GAA of 0.38 and an .875 save percentage.
 
For the season, Mines is +36 in goal differential at 41-5 and averages 2.93 goals and 21.3 shots per contest while limiting opposing teams to just 0.36 goals and a paltry 6.6 shots. They have taken nearly 300 shots on the season and put better than 45% of them on frame in addition to logging 31 assists on their 41 goals. Defensively they have combined for 37 saves while taking 91 corner kicks and going 4-6 on penalty kicks. They have been whistled for 90 fouls and issued just two yellow cards.
 
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS
The Cowgirls, under the direction of first-year head coach Amanda Evans, are still seeking their first RMAC win of 2024 and enter the weekend looking to snap a 10-match winless streak with a 1-1 draw against Western Colorado breaking up nine losses going back to September 15. October 13 looked as though they may have broken through against Regis but came up short in a 3-2 contest.
 
Kate Rayner leads five players for NMHU who have scored this season with five goals on 21 shots, 15 of which have been on goal. Acacia Rodriguez is the only other player with multiple goals, as she has two along with an assist for five points. Jennifer Mueller, Ruth Covey and Isavel Glenn round out the scoring with one goal each.
 
Renee Johnson leads the team in assists with two while Mueller, Paige Gowen, Deyn Gunn, Jacquie McPherson, Mia Roybal and Izzie Scott all have one.
 
In goal, Peyton Greener has been the starter most of the season, appearing in 12 matches and getting the nod 11 times, making 61 saves against 31 goals allowed in 947 minutes with a .670 save rate and 3.15 GAA while facing 166 shots. Haylee Driscoll has started twice in two games for 223 minutes and has 12 saves against six goals allowed for a .667 save percentage and a 2.43 GAA against 34 shots.
 
For the season, NMHU is -28 in scoring at 37-9 and averages 0.69 goals and 9.2 shots per contest while allowing 2.85 and 15.8 to opponents. They have nine assists on their nine goals and have taken 43 corner kicks while going 1-1 on PKs. They have 74 saves in goal while they have been whistled for 88 fouls, assessed 12 yellow cards and issued one ejection.
 
SCOUTING ADAMS STATE
Like the Cowgirls, the Grizzlies are also still in search of their first RMAC win of the season as well as their first points of the fall. They'll host MSU Denver Thursday afternoon before taking on the Oredigger Sunday as they look to snap a seven-match losing streak.
 
Five players comprise the 11 goals scored by the Grizzlies this season, led by Karlee Caballero's five. Colette Tena has three to her credit while Grace Abbott, Madeline Everett and Brissa Toribio all have one.
 
Abbott also leads the team with two assists while five others, including Caballero and Tena, along with Athena Huggins, Cassandra Jaramillo and Denali Levin all have one.
 
Between the pipes, Ashlyn Bartley has been the starter more often than not, getting the nod eight times in 10 outings and logging 806 minutes. She's made 21 saves against 16 goals allowed for a .568 save rate and a 1.79 GAA against 87 shots faced. Lianna Albert has logged 274 minutes in five games with four starts, making six saves against five goals allowed for a .545 save percentage and a 1.64 GAA with both of the teams wins to her ledger along with a shutout against 23 shots faced.
 
On the season, ASU is -10 in goal differential at 21-11, averaging 0.92 goals and 11.2 shots per match while allowing 1.75 and 9.3 to opposing teams. They have seven assists on their 11 goals and have taken 33 corner kicks. They have 27 saves in goal and have committed 74 fouls and been issued just seven cautions.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will be the 27th meeting of the Orediggers and Cowgirls with mines leading the series 19-4-3 and winners of 10 straight contests overall and seven in a row in Las Vegas. When playing on the road, the Orediggers a 7-2-3 and last time they were on the Land of Enchantment, picked up a 2-0 win in 2021. Also worth noting over the last 14 matches since 2012, during which Mines has gone 13-0-1, they have outscored New Mexico Highlands 39-4.
 
Against the Grizzlies, Mines has enjoyed a similar level of success going 17-2-1 over the first 20 meetings heading into Sunday in Alamosa. Winners of 12 in a row and 17-0-1 since 2006, the Orediggers are 6-1-0 when playing on the road with the only loss coming in their first trip to Adams state in their inaugural 2005 season. Last time they were there was in 2022 and resulted in the third of four straight 3-0 wins. Currently, the Orediggers have not allowed a goal to ASU since 2011, subsequently outscoring them 43-0 in the 12 matches since. That's 1,080 minutes for those keeping track at home.
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers return home to close out the regular season and open the month of November against Colorado Mesa on November 1 and Westminster on November 3 for Senior Day.
 
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.