GOLDEN, Colo. – After getting the last week-plus off thanks to their exploits in the regular season, the top-seeded Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team opened their postseason campaign Thursday afternoon at Stermole Stadium in the semifinals of the 2024 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament against fourth-seeded UCCS. A scoreless first half was followed by a combined three goals in the second and while the Mountain Lions (10-8-2) scored first, in the end it was the Orediggers' (18-0-1) duo of Reese McDermott and Bella Campos showing why they were Co-Player of the Year this season, scoring twice in a six-minute period down the stretch to advance to championship Saturday night 2-1.
 
Right away Mines threatened in the match as McDermott had a golden chance in the third minute of play to put the first goal on the board but missed high over the crossbar before Campos had a good look in the 14th minute that missed just right of goal.
 
UCCS took their first looks of the match starting the 19th minute as five quick shots from Emily Aguilar, Amelia McManus and Mattea Morris took flight but none threatened, missing high and wide or being blocked by a stingy defensive effort by the Orediggers.
 
Campos had her best chance of the first half in 34th minute against freshman Alexis Malaspina, but the Mountain Lions keeper, who missed the first meeting of the season between the teams with injury, was up the task and made the save.
 
That shot all but concluded any noteworthy action in the opening period as both teams played very well defensively, crashing to the ball and helping to prevent what could have been several quality looks as after 45 minutes the match remained scoreless.
 
Coming out to start the half, UCCS looked to push the pace as they put Allie Lundgren to the test with a shot in the 47th minute from Elise Broberg that was saved before recording a team save against Jadyn LeDoux in the 51st minute.
 
The offensive pressure applied by the Mountain Lions saw them break through for the opening goal of the match in the 63rd minute. Fie Steinberg gathered up a long ball in the far corner of the east of the field before passing back to center from the edge of the penalty area to Taylynn Levi. Levi collected and dribbled across and into the penalty area and managed to get a step on the defense to fire a shot across her body to the back post past the outstretched arms of Lundgren to take the lead.
 
Finding themselves in unfamiliar territory, Mines looked to mount an answer as play resumed. Cloey Seltzer ran a little give-and-go with McDermott on the near side out top of the 18-yard line before firing a near-post shot that was snagged by Malaspina to preserve the lead for the moment.
 
The lead, however, was soon erased in short order as the Orediggers won possession on an extended battle for the ball following a punt back downfield by Malaspina. Jolie Jiricek was the one who ended up with it and promptly boomed a longball back downfield ahead of McDermott. The senior outraced the UCCS defense and learning from her earlier miss, was able to successfully chip a shot over the freshman netminder and into the back of goal to level the score at 1-1 in the 76th minute.
 
With less than 15 minutes in regulation, the intensity level went through the roof as both ties vied for control and a spot in Saturday's title game. Levi looked to answer for UCCS in the 78th minute but to no avail as Lundgren handled the shot without issue.
 
With time ticking away, the Orediggers looked to muster one more goal from the league's best offensive unit and managed to do just that in the 82nd minute. A throw by the Mountain Lions on the near side was headed up and collected first by Ava Harman who centered the ball to Callie Fuhr by the edge of the arc deep in Mines' own end. Fuhr then played a low-line drive ball ahead to the center circle that was headed on by McDermott, this time to Campos who outraced the defense before lining a shot to the near post from 14 yards out to take the lead 2-1.
 
Now leading in the final 10 minutes, the Orediggers did their best to maintain possession and did well in that endeavor as they worked to maintain their newly-acquired lead. McDermott tried to tack on a third goal in the 82nd minute but Malaspina rebounded to make the save. One last chance for UCCS came in the 90th minute as once again Levi took aim with a banger of a shot from atop the 18 that caromed off the near post and back into play before being cleared away and a corner kick awarded.
 
Mines defended the set piece well as while UCCS had all 11 players up in their attacking half, it wasn't enough as the regular season champions showed their mettle, rallying for a 2-1 win to advance to Saturday night.
 
NOTABLES
-McDermott's equalizer was her 17th goal of the season and now puts her on the north side of 50 in her career while also adding her sixth assist of the season as she has now done both in four matches this season
-Now with 117 points in her career, McDermott is now three shy of third place all-time behind Megan Woodworth (2009-12)
-Campos logged a season-high 67 minutes and netted her 12th goal of the season and 27th of her career, tying her with Nicole LaTourette (2016-19) for fifth all-time while her 63 career points trail LaTourette by just two for fifth in that category
-Fuhr added her third assist of the season, setting a new single-season best and now has five in her career
-Lundgren finished with two saves in goal for the afternoon
-The Orediggers outshot UCCS 15-12 in the match and 6-4 in shots on frame
-Thursday marked just the second time this season that Mines has trailed in a match this season, the only other time coming on September 8 at Chico State
-For the season, Mines has only trailed for only 44:02 of game action in 19 matches
-Saturday will mark the Orediggers' 11th appearance in the RMAC Tournament title match as they seek their 10th tournament title
-Mines improves to 28-7-4 in the RMAC Tournament with the win Thursday and is now 10-6-2 all-time in the semifinals
 
UP NEXT
Mines advances to the 2024 RMAC Women's Soccer Tournament title match Saturday night at 6 p.m. against seventh-seeded Fort Lewis at 6 p.m. The Skyhawks advanced 5-4 in penalties over MSU Denver following a 1-1 draw.
 
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.