LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Back on the road for the final regular season road trip of the 2024 season, the top-ranked Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team lined up for a rare mid-afternoon matchup against New Mexico Highlands Friday. Following a scoreless opening period, the Orediggers (14-0-1, 8-0-1) scored a pair over the final 45 minutes, led by Reese McDermott who became the third player to record 50 career goals in a Mines uniform in a 2-0 win over the Cowgirls (2-10-2, 0-7-1).
 
Afton Rasco started the afternoon with the first shot in the fifth minute looking to go ahead early, but Peyton Greener handled it to make the first of five first half saves. Rasco tried again in the eighth minute but again couldn't get by Greener before McDermott pulled up moments later but missed wide left.
 
Mines had a dangerous chance about 12 minutes in as Greener was caught well out of position near the top of the penalty area, leaving McDermott with a chance to score but the Cowgirls' defenders managed to delay enough and disrupt the play to erase the opportunity.
 
To their credit, the NMHU defense did a good job of disrupting the Orediggers' unrelenting attack as while Mines spent plenty of possession time in their offensive half, they remained unable to take advantage of a bevy of opportunities.
 
More shots kept coming for the Orediggers, but either missed their marks wide and high or found the hands of Greener. Bella Campos and Ava Harman each had a shot on goal in the closing minutes of the half but neither managed to get past Greener as the first half concluded with no change to the scoreboard.
 
After several more chance to open the second half, Mines finally cracked the scoreboard in the 56th minute. The Cowgirls had an opportunity of their own to try and finally press home in their offensive half of the field but a pass toward the penalty was broken up by the defense as Cloey Seltzer ended up with the ball and raced up field. Seltzer passed ahead from the center circle to Ellise Putnam, who tried to slide a second pass by a defender to McDermott. Devyn Gunn managed to get a boot on it, but it ultimately made no difference. McDermott won the foot race to the ball and shook Gunn for an easy finish past Greener, who was well out and off her line trying to assist defensively but instead ended up surrendering the opening goal of the afternoon.
 
Allie Lundgren faced her first shot of the day shortly after the restart on a volley from Paige Gowen but had no trouble securing the save. After a shot by Seltzer on the 63rd minute that was saved by Greener and sent back the other way, Lundgren notched her second save on a shot from Kelsey Imrisek-Kawalkaowski to preserve the advantage.
 
The Orediggers doubled the lead in the 73rd minute thanks to a goal on a second-chance opportunity from Bella Campos. Mines was awarded a free kick following a take down of Campos on the edge of the penalty area while NMHU was trying to clear the ball out of their zone. Callie Fuhr stepped up to take the free kick, and took a shot as she put the ball back in play. Her try was saved off the crossbar by Greener, but came right back into play at the feet of Campos, who had no problem burying the rebound to make it 2-0.
 
With the defense doing a superb job of not allowing any potential counters by the Cowgirls, Lindsay Jeans and Bella Campos did their best to try and add a third goal to the tally in the closing moments, with the latter rattling the crossbar in the 88th minute, but in the end two goals was all that was needed to secure the sixth consecutive win for the Orediggers.
 
NOTABLES
-McDermott's goal was her 16th of the season, surpassing her mark of 15 from 2022, and runs her scoring streak to a career-best six consecutive matches, setting a new single-season personal best in the progress
-McDermott joins Kayla Mitchell (2006-09) and Anna Evans (2010-13) as the only three players in program history to record 50 goals in a Mines uniform and is now just five goals behind Evans for second on the all-time scoring list
-The game-winner by the senior from Houston was her sixth of the season and 17th during her time as an Orediggers, placing her two back of Evans for second in that metric all-time as well
-Campos notched her seventh tally of the season in the winning effort, raising her career scoring total to 23 and her point total to 54, tying her with Jennifer Kendall (2015-18) and Emily Garnier (2014-17) for sixth all-time in both categories
-Lundgren recorded two saves on the only two shots that she faced in the match, notching her seventh shutout of the season and eighth of her career to move her into sole possession of seventh all-time past Penny Rogers (2008-11)
-Mines finished the match with 12 shots on goal, the third time this season they recorded at least that many
-11 different players attempted at least one shot in the match, with Campos leading the way with five shots and three on goal with McDermott adding four and three of her own
-Defensively the Orediggers held the Cowgirls to just two total shots, marking the second time this season to achieve that feat with the last coming on opening day at San Francisco State
-With the win, Mines officially clinches a spot in the 2024 RMAC Women's Soccer Championship and after some early results from around the league yesterday, moves back into first place in the standings by one point over Colorado Mesa
-All-time, Mines is now 20-4-3 against NMHU and runs their winning streak to 11 in a row
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers close out road action in 2024 with a trip to Alamosa Sunday to take on Adams State at 1 p.m.
 
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.