(4) Midwestern State (11-4-5, 6-2-5 LSC) vs. (5) #18 Colorado Mesa (13-2-3, 11-1-0) – Friday, 3 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]
(1) #1 Mines vs. Winner of Midwestern State/Colorado Mesa – Sunday, 3 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]

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THE BIG DANCE
The Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in program history and will take the next step on their journey Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. from Stermole Stadium. The Orediggers await the winner of the opening round match between Midwestern State and RMAC rival Colorado Mesa scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday.
 
FAN INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online in advance at minesathletics.com/tickets or at the gate on the day of the match. Mines students, faculty and staff will be admitted for free with their BlasterCard. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot K immediately to the north of Stermole Stadium. Fans as are not allowed to park in the neighborhood surrounding the Clear Creek Athletic Complex, as the City of Golden's street parking requires a permit seven days a week.
 
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.
 
RMAC TOURNAMENT RECAP
The Orediggers didn't have it easy by any means in the RMAC Tournament last week as they had to work for their 10th silver cup in program history. In the semifinals against a rejuvenated UCCS club, Mines found themselves down late in the second half but thanks to nearly-identical goals by Reese McDermott and Bella Campos in the 76th and 82nd minutes, emerged with a 2-1 win to advance to the championship match. Saturday night's championship was a thriller under the lights and saw the Orediggers need just one goal by McDermott in the 17th minute to take the title. The defense, spearheaded by Lauren Clingman and Ava Harman, held Fort Lewis to just nine shots for the match with four on goal as Allie Lundgren turned in another clean sheet to start the celebration.
 
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 243-41-39 (.813), 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, 81 all-conference honorees and 29 RMAC major award winners. Fickes has also guided Mines to seven RMAC regular season titles and 10 RMAC Tournament crowns and made 16 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.
 
Mines held pat atop the national rankings for the fifth consecutive week followed by Columbus State, Ashland and Cal Poly Pomona. Gannon moved up two places from seventh to fifth while last week's #5 Adelphi dropped to 14th this week. Colorado Mesa moved up to #18 ahead of Friday's match with the Orediggers while MSU Denver continued to earn votes.
 
POSTSEASON HONORS
The Orediggers cleaned up this week when it came to the RMAC postseason major awards and All-Conference teams. Reese McDermott and Bella Campos were named Co-Player of the Year while Ava Harman became the third Oredigger in as many seasons to be named Defensive Player of the Year, joining Natalie Rouse and Jordan Barnhart. Kevin Fickes was named Coach of the Year by his peers while a further three Mines players earned All-RMAC honors, with Cloey Seltzer being named all-conference First Team, Lauren Clingman being named a Second Team honoree and Kaitlyn Manalili earning Honorable Mention honors. Read more about the postseason honors for the Orediggers here.
 
TOP OF THE CLASS
For the second year running, Reese McDermott was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Player of the Year, becoming the first player in program history to achieve the feat and earning the program's fourth all-time honor. Joining McDermott on the league's All-Academic First Team were midfielder Kaitlyn Manalili and goalkeeper Allie Lundgren while a further 16 Orediggers earned Academic Honor Roll status. Read more about the brainy bunch here.
 
IN THE NEWS
Denver7's Bradey King came out prior to the RMAC Tournament to shine a light on the Orediggers' run of success in 2024 and talked with Ava Harman, Lauren Clingman and Kevin Fickes about the season that has been and what to look forward to as the postseason begins. Watch the story that aired on last Friday's evening news here.
 
LOOKING AT THE BRACKET
56 teams made the field for the 2024 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship this season across the eight regions. Mines earned the #1 seed in the South Central Region thanks to their performance this season and were joined as the top seed in the respective regions by Shepherd (Atlantic), West Florida (South), Adelphi (East), Columbus State (Southeast), Cal Poly Pomona (West), Ashland (Midwest) and Central Missouri (Central).
 
Looking at the South Central specifically, the top six teams through all the ordered regional rankings ended up being the six that made the field with just one change to the order. Mines by virtue of their unbeaten regular season and sweep of the RMAC championships will host one half of the bracket, with fourth-seeded Midwestern State and fifth-seeded Colorado Mesa squaring off in Golden Friday afternoon. The other half of the bracket will be hosted by LSC Tournament champions Angelo State after they knocked off Dallas Baptist in the title match which resulted in the teams flip-flopping as the second and third teams in the region. The Rambelles await the winner of the match between the third-seeded Patriots and sixth-seeded MSU Denver, who was likely nervously awaiting to hear their name called in Monday's selection show after bowing out of the RMAC Tournament in the semifinals against Fort Lewis following a penalty kick shootout.
 
Both halves of the regional will be contested Friday and Sunday with the winners of Sunday's matches meeting next weekend following the Thanksgiving holiday at the site of the highest remaining seed.
 
NCAA NOTES
Mines has an impressive streak going as they have made 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances going back to 2008 (there was no tournament in the spring 2021 season). Entering this year's edition of the event, the Orediggers sport a 16-10-9 record and a mark of 6-4-3 in second round action. Seven times they have made it to the Sweet 16 with six appearances in the Elite Eight and one Final Four appearance. Sunday will mark the 14th NCAA Tournament game to be contested in Golden, a place where Mines is 5-3-5.
 
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. After scoring the game-winner in the RMAC title match last Saturday, McDermott has scored the go-ahead goal 18 times, one shy of Anna Evans (2010-13) for second all-time. She's also now the third player to score 50 or more goals in a career and now stands at 52, three back of Evans for second in that category as well. Meanwhile, her 122 points place her in third all-time ahead of Megan Woodworth (2009-12) and 11 back of Evans.
 
Bella Campos stands alongside McDermott as the only other double-digit scorer in the RMAC this season and was the only player in the RMAC to record a hat trick in league play this season. She now has 28 goals in not even two plus seasons move past Nicole LaTourette (2016-19) for fifth all-time. Her 65 career points place her in a tie with LaTourette for fifth all-time as she has work to do to catch Woodworth but has plenty of time to do so.
 
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 10 shutouts and has moved past Penny Rogers (2008-11) for seventh all-time and now trails Sierra Roth by two for sixth.
 
When it comes to assists, McDermott along with Ellise Putnam are both closing in on top five status. The former now has 18 dimes in her career, tied with Kayla Mitchell (2006-09) for fifth while the latter has 15 as she looks to add on entering the national tournament.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
RMAC Tournament MVP and Co-Player of the Year Reese McDermott has made her finals season as an Oredigger her best, scoring 18 times with six assists for 42 points with seven game-winners while going 1-2 on penalties. Her partner in crime and fellow RMAC Co-Player of the Year Bella Campos has backed up a stellar debut season last fall with one just as impressive this year, scoring 12 times with five assists for 29 points with four game-winners while going 2-3 on PKs.
 
First Team All-RMAC selection Cloey Seltzer, Ellise Putnam and RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Ava Harman all have four goals apiece with four, two and two assists respectively. Honorable Mention All-RMAC Kaitlyn Manalili turned in her finest season to date with three goals and a team-leading six assists while Afton Rasco and Laura Butler each scored three times with five combined assists. Gaby Guerrero, Natalie Rouse and Ariana Ahumada round out the scoring for Mines.
 
Jolie Jiricek enters the national tournament tied with Seltzer for fourth on the team with four assists while Rasco and Calli Fuhr each have three. Putnam, Butler and Lauren Clingman all have two assists to their credit while Paola Rubi and Jordan Bowermaster have once apiece.
 
In goal, Allie Lundgren directed her ninth shutout of the season in the RMAC Tournament title match over Fort Lewis and for the season has 44 saves against six goals allowed for a 0.35 GAA and an .880 save rate. She sports a 17-0-1 record with further three combined shutouts against 120 shots faced in 17 starts across 18 outings for 1,550 minutes. When it comes to backups, there are few as qualified and capable as Sadie Wolf who has made three starts in five matches for 250 minutes. She's made seven saves against one goal allowed for a 0.36 GAA and an .875 save percentage to go with a 2-0-0 record and one solo shutout against 17 shots faced.
 
For the year, Mines is +48 in goal differential at 55-7 this season and averages 2.75 goals on 20.1 shots per contest while limiting teams to just 0.35 goals and 6.9 shots. They have tallied 41 assists on their 55 goals and combined for 52 saves. They are 4-6 on penalty shots and have taken 117 corner kicks. Defensively they have been called for 117 fouls and issued six cautions.
 
SCOUTING MIDWESTERN STATE
The Mustangs are making their seventh appearance in the national tournament after going 11-4-5 overall and 6-2-5 in the Lone Star Conference where they finished fourth and advanced to the LSC tournament semifinals, falling to eventual champion Angelo State. MSU is 2-0-0 against RMAC opponents this season, as they hosted both Western Colorado and Fort Lewis the first two weeks of the season and posting scores of 6-1 and 2-1.
 
LSC Co-Newcomer of the Year and Second Team All-LSC honoree Nyxalee Munoz leads the offense with eight goals and three assists for 19 points, netting four game-winners and going 1-1 on penalties this season. Another Second Team All-LSC selection Cassidy Savoy scored seven times with two assists for 16 points while Third Team and All-Freshman Team selection Madison Brinkley chipped in six goals herself.
 
Lexi Beck, the Mustangs all-time assists leader and sole First Team All-Conference honoree this season, has 10 assists to go along with five goals and is 3-3 from the spot this season, something to keep in mind heading into the national tournament. Lilla Besedin (4 G, 8 PTS), Jimena Rodriguez (3 G, 1 A, 7 PTS) and Sarah Hayes (2 G, 1 A, 5 PTS) are the other three players with multiple goals this season while a further six Mustangs all have a single tally to their credit.
 
Allessandra Romano is second on the team in assists behind Beck with five followed by Munoz's three. Savoy, Isabella Cruz and LSC All-Freshman Team member Sloane Sullivan all have a pair while an additional five players have one assist on the season.
 
Between the pipes it has been Allison Dellis for 18 of 20 games this season as the sophomore from Denton has clocked 1,620 minutes and made 95 saves against 22 goals allowed for a 1.22 GAA and .812 save rate. She's got a record of 9-4-5 with three shutouts against 276 shots faced. Annika Medellin has seen time in two matches for 180 minutes and has five saves against one goal allowed for a 0.50 GAA and an .833 save percentage. She's 2-0-0 with one shutout in goal against 10 shots faced.
 
As a unit, Midwestern State has outscored teams 41-23 this season and averages 2.05 goals on 16.4 shots per match while ceding 1.15 goals on 14.3 shots to opponents. They have 29 assists on their 41 goals and have a combined 102 saves in goal. They have taken 110 corner kicks and are 4-4 on penalty kicks. Defensively they have been whistled for 183 fouls, issued 17 cautions and received two ejections.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
The Mavericks enter the NCAA Tournament looking to atone for a setback in the RMAC quarterfinals against Fort Lewis in which they played to scoreless draw through regulation and overtime before falling 8-7 in an 11-round penalty kick shootout with the Skyhawks.
 
 First Team All-RMAC selection Sauvelyne Randel leads the way for the Mavericks on offense with nine goals and five assists for 23 points with three game-winners and is 3-4 from the spot on penalties this season. Fellow First Team selection Abby Fotheringham has six goals and three assists for 15 points with four game-winners and is 1-1 on PKs while Honorable Mention honoree Sarah Dunn was one of four players with four goals this season along with three assists for 11 points.
 
Addessa Correa also scored four times this fall as did Kylie Wells as the duo combined for three assists while Braelyn Baclayon also added four scores in her first season in Grand Junction. Carli Dare was also named First Team All-RMAC thanks to her five assists this season, tied with Randel for the team lead while defender Ally Wachtel added a goal and an assist on her way to First Team honors as well.
 
All told, eight different players scored for the Mavericks this season with six of them scoring four or more times while an even dozen players added an assist.
 
One of those players with an assist happens to be RMAC Goalkeeper of the Year Keely Wieczorek. The sophomore has played all but 29 of the 1,640 minutes CMU has clocked this season and has made 50 saves against 12 goals for a 0.67 GAA and an .806 save rate. She has a 13-2-3 record with 10 shutouts against 134 shots faced in more than 1,611 minutes across 18 matches this season. Allison Collinwood played the remaining 29 minutes in goal and allowed two goals against three shots faced.
 
For the season, CMU has outscored teams 33-14 and averages 1.83 goals on 15.6 shots per match while holding opposing teams to just 0.78 goals and 7.6 shots on average. They have 26 assists on their 33 goals and have made 50 saves in goal. They are 4-6 on penalty kicks and have taken 111 corner kicks. Defensively they have been called for 154 fouls and issued 14 cautions.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Against the Mustangs, the Orediggers are 5-1-0 all-time and winners of five-straight matches going back to 2017. When playing in Golden, they are 1-0-0 with the last meeting coming opening weekend of the 2022 season in which Mines posted a 5-0 win behind a Reese McDermott hat trick and three assists from Laura Butler. The teams have met in the NCAA Tournament previously as well, with Mines posting a 3-2 overtime win thanks to Ellise Putnam in the 100th minute of the 2021 championship in Colorado Springs.
 
Against the Mavericks, Mines sports a 20-6-1 record and is 10-4-0 all-time as the home team in the series. A 3-0 result on the final weekend of the regular season at the start of the month went the way of the Orediggers in Golden, snapping a two-match skid in the series that saw CMU win twice at Stermole Stadium in the span of a week to end the Orediggers' season. The first of those wins was in the RMAC Tournament title match win which Colorado Mesa posted a 3-0 win before knocking off the Orediggers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament 1-0 in extra time thanks to a goal in the 107th minute.
 
UP NEXT
With a win, the Orediggers will advance to the third round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship to be contested December 1 against the team that advances out of the other half of the South Central Region bracket. With a loss, Mines' season will be over and the offseason will begin.
 
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.