(1) #1 Mines (19-0-2) vs. (2) #RV Angelo State (14-1-5) – Sunday, 1 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]

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SWEET 16 SHOWDOWN
The South Central Region title will be on the line Sunday afternoon at Stermole Stadium as the top two seeds in the region will square off at Stermole Stadium as the Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team hosts Angelo State.
 
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.
 
NCAA SECOND ROUND RECAP
Last Sunday's Second Round match with Colorado Mesa had all one could ask for in a postseason matchup. Lauren Clingman kicked off the scoring with an Olimpico off a corner kick in the 12th minute to take a lead that would hold until the 54th minute when Sauvelyne Randel converted a penalty kick following a foul that most Mines fans would take grievance with. Afton Rasco, the guilty party in the sequence, atoned for that by retaking the lead with a banger from atop the 18 to the near post in 57th minute and was followed by Bella Campos in the 74th minute as with 16 minutes to go, it looked as if Mines would coast to a 3-1 win. The Mavericks had other ideas and pushed the pace and their attack in the closing minutes, forcing several self-inflicted mistakes by the Orediggers which led to a second Randel goal in the 88th minute before a free kick goal with 58 seconds in regulation from Shelby Steele leveled the score at 3-3. CMU had a chance to win in overtime in the 103rd minute, but Kylie Wells played herself offside inside the six-yard box as the potential game-winner was waved off. Level after 120 minutes, the match went to a penalty shooting and after identical results of goals and saves in the first three rounds, Steele wasn't able to match Reese McDermott in the fourth round as she banged a shot off the crossbar, setting the table for Callie Fuhr to walk it off in the fifth round to win the shootout 4-2 and advance to the third round.
 
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 243-41-40 (.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.
 
ALL-REGION ALL-STARS
A whopping six Orediggers were named to the D2 CCA All-South Central Region teams that were announced Tuesday, headlined by Reese McDermott's coronation as Regional Player of the Year. Read more about the honorees of this year's All-Region teams here.
 
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 Round of 16 this weekend, a pair of #1 seeds met their ends in the second round as Ashland fell 1-0 to fifth-seeded Drury while Adelphi's dreams were dashed 3-2 by fourth-seeded Jefferson. Four regional finals this weekend feature 1-2 matchups (West, Central, South Central, Atlantic), while two regions (South, Southeast) see 1-3 matchups.  
 
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). Following last weekend's second round match, the Orediggers are 16-10-10 all-time and will be making their eight appearance in the Sweet 16, a place where they are 4-1-2 with their most recent trip in 2022 resulting in a 1-0 win over Dallas Baptist. Sunday will mark the 15th NCAA Tournament game to be contested in Golden, a place where Mines is 5-3-6.
 
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 November 16, 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 duo account for two of three double-digit scorers 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 29  goals in not even two plus seasons and has moved past Nicole LaTourette (2016-19) for fifth all-time. Meanwhile, her 68 career points give her sole possession of fifth all-time past LaTourette as she now sets her sights on Woodworth's mark of 120 in fourth.
 
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 Co-Player of the Year and D2 CCA Regional Player of the Year Reese McDermott leads Mines in scoring with 18 goals along with six assists for 42 points and has seven game-winners while going 1-2 on penalty kicks. Bella Campos joined McDermott in taking home RMAC Co-Player of the Year honors and is coming off a three-point contest with a goal and an assist last round against Colorado Mesa, giving her 13 goals and six assists for 32 points as she has four game-winners while going 2-3 on PKs.
 
Afton Rasco became the fourth of four players this season to score four goals with one last Sunday and matches Ellise Putnam with four goals and three assists this season. First Team All-RMAC selection Cloey Seltzer has four goals and four assists while RMAC Defensive Player of the Year has four goals and two assists.
 
Kaitlyn Manalili is tied with McDermott and Campos for the team lead in assists with six while also scoring three times. Laura Butler has netted three goals with two assists as well while a further four players have a single tally for Mines. Jolie Jiricek has played factor on offense as well, assisting on four goals while Sunday's hero Callie Fuhr has three assists.
 
In goal, Allie Lundgren enters Sunday's match after being named Second Team All-Region as she's logged 1,660:05 in goal across 19 matches and made 52 saves against nine goals allowed for a 0.49 GAA and .852 save percentage against 144 shots while posting a 17-0-2 record and nine solo shutouts. Sadie Wolf started the first three games of the season and has seen time in five contests, making seven saves against one goal for a 0.36 GAA and an .875 save rate with one solo shutout.
 
For the season, the Orediggers are +48 in scoring margin at 58-10 and average 2.76 goals on 20.1 shots per game while allowing just 0.48 goals on 7.7 shots to opposing teams. They have 43 assists on their 58 goals and have made 60 saves in goal. They have taken 138 corner kicks and are 4-6 on penalties this fall. Defensively they have been called for 132 fouls and assessed seven cautions.
 
SCOUTING ANGELO STATE
The Rambelles are riding high following consecutive wins over Dallas Baptist in the span of a week, first to win the Lone Star Conference tournament on November 17 by a 2-1 result followed by a win in the second round of the national tournament last weekend by a score of 1-0 35 seconds into overtime.
 
First Team All-LSC selection Sanai Stewart leads the ASU attack with six goals and four assists for 16 points with two game-winners. Second Teamer Madison Bourzikas has scored five times with one assist for 11 points in mostly a reserve role, coming off the bench 15 times in 18 matches. Fellow Second Team selection Abby James is one of two players with four goals this season to go with an assist for nine points and is also 1-1 on PKs this fall.
 
LSC Defensive Player of the Year Christina Clark leads the team with 1,797 minutes this season and joins James with four goals this season. Graycen Rasmussen has scored three times this season including once in the November 17 win over DBU after she missed more than a month of the season. Five other Rambelles have scored a pair of goals this season headlined by All-Freshman team selection Kailee Meyer and First Team selection Katelin Heise, while a further three have scored once each.
 
In goal, LSC Goalkeeper of the Year Amber Lockwood has started all 20 matches and clocked 1,784:11 in goal, recording 62 saves against just nine goals allowed for a 0.45 GAA and an .873 save rate with a 14-1-5 record and 12 solo shutouts against 147 shots. Melyna Martinez has seen time twice this season for 29:44 and has yet to record any statistics.
 
As a team, Angelo State is +26 in scoring margin at 35-9 and averages 1.75 goals on 14.7 shots per match while allowing just 0.45 goals on 7.4 shots to opponents. They have 17 assists on their 35 goals and have 62 saves in goal. They have taken 78 corner kicks and are 2-2 on penalties. Defensively they have been whistled for 198 fouls and assessed 22 yellow cards.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines and Angelo State will be meeting for just the fifth time Sunday afternoon and third time in as many seasons. The last time the teams met was week two of the 2023 regular season in Golden and saw the Orediggers cruise to a 4-0 win to improve to 2-1-1 in the series. The two teams have never met in postseason play, though the Rambelles have been to Golden for the NCAA Tournament. In 2022 they squared off against UCCS in opening round action, but came out on the wrong end of a 3-1 result in overtime. Sunday will be the third all-time meeting of the Orediggers and Rambelles at Stermole Stadium, a place where Mines is 2-0 with a 5-0 scoring margin.
 
UP NEXT
With a win, the Orediggers will advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship to be contested December 7 against the winner of the West region between Cal Poly Pomona and the defending national champions Point Loma. 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.