Mines (0-0-0) at San Francisco State (0-0-0) – Friday, 11 a.m. PT – San Francisco, Calif. [Live Stats] [FloFC ($)]
Mines (0-0-0) at Chico State (0-0-0) – Sunday, 11:30 a.m. PT – Chico, Calif. [Live Stats] [FloFC ($)]

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CELEBRATING 20 SEASONS OF WOMEN'S SOCCER AT MINES
The 2024 season will carry some added significance once it kicks off Friday morning on the West Coast, as it will commemorate the 20th edition of women's soccer at Mines. The Orediggers will get their season underway against the same two foes they faced last year, starting with San Francisco state before closing the road trip against Chico State on Sunday morning.
 
FAN ADVISORY
For those planning to make the trip out west this weekend, opening day's match against San Francisco State will require the purchase of tickets using cash only at the venue. General admission tickets will be $12, while seniors (65+) and children ages 5-11 with be $5.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live streaming of this weekend's matches will be available on a pay-per-view basis on FloFC, the new streaming partner of the CCAA. Free lives stats will be available through Sidearm for both matches. Links for video and stats for both matches can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
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.
 
2023 RECAP
While Mines can look back and overall be happy with the 2023 season, there were some boxes that went unchecked over the course of the year. The Orediggers boasted one of the most prolific offenses in the RMAC last fall, posting a mark of 15-4-3 overall and 9-1-2 at home. While they didn't win the league's regular season title, they still ended up hosting the tournament title match as the two seed against Colorado Mesa, but fell short in that match 3-0 before falling again to the Mavs a week later in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament 1-0, also on their home pitch.
 
The Orediggers did string together a historic run starting in early October, posting 10 consecutive shutouts and setting a new program record in the process.
 
Awards season was very kind to Mines as well, with six players earning All-RMAC recognition with Bella Campos bringing home the program's third consecutive Freshman of the Year honor, Natalie Rouse making it back-to-back years with Defensive Player of the Year status and Reese McDermott sweeping Player of the Year and Academic Player of the Year honors. That trio also earned multiple All-America honors between them with Katie Koehler and Ellise Putnam also earning All-Region hardware.
 
AT THE HELM
2024 will mark the 15th season leading Mines for boss Kevin Fickes, the program's winningest head coach. With a career mark of 224-41-38 (.802), 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.
 
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 Koehler, she brings a wealth of experience and has started 69 times in her 72 matches played for over 6,000 minutes.
 
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 has started 59 times in 63 matches since setting foot on campus in the fall of 2021.
 
NOW INTRODUCING…
Six newcomers join the Orediggers for the 2024 season, all of whom are first-year players at the collegiate level. Read more about this year's signing class here.
 
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.
 
On the national stage, Mines opened the year #19 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. UCCS and CMU also appeared in #6 and #10 respectively while reigning national champions Point Loma held down the top spot. Washburn, Florida Tech, Adelphi and Gannon rounded out the top five in that poll.
 
OFFENSE ABOUNDS
Mines was an absolute wagon on the offensive side of the ball last season, scoring an RMAC-best 59 goals by way of 13 players (and one own goal by the opposition) and is once again loaded for bear coming into 2024. 54 of those goals and the players responsible for them are back this fall, including the prolific duo of Bella Campos, the RMAC Freshman of the Year who led the league in scoring with 16 goals, and former Freshman of the Year and reigning Player of the Year Reese McDermott, who scored 11 goals while assisting on a further eight last fall. Center back Natalie Rouse, the Defensive Player of the Year last fall, is back after scoring six goals while Cloey Seltzer and Katie Koehler are back for more after each netting four scores in 2023. After averaging 2.68 goals per game last fall, look for the fireworks to continue once again this fall.
 
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO STATE
The Gators were in a rebuild starting last season and despite their mark of 3-13-2 overall and 2-8-1 in CCAA action, they still found ways to be competitive, only allowing four goals in a match twice and coming up just short in one-goal matches six times while two of their three wins were shutouts. SFSU finished 10th of 12 teams in their league last fall ahead of Sonoma State and Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
10 different players scored for SFSU last fall including four players who each scored a pair and returns nine goals from seven players in 2023. Renee Davis, who led the team with five points last fall, and Lauren Johnston, who posted two goals, headline the returners and are joined by Samantha Shim, Rachel Handy, Grace Messenger, Michelle Pham and Brynn Reyes.
 
Between the pipes, two of the three keepers who saw action last year return in the person of Cameryn Nunn and Kylie Tone. Nunn started five times in six matches and played 450 minutes, allowing 10 goals while making 24 saves against 62 shots for a 2.00 GAA and a .706 save rate while going 1-4-1 with a shutout. Tone saw the bulk of the minutes last season, starting all 10 games she played in and logged 885 minutes and leading the Gators with 56 saves while allowing 18 goals against 147 shots with a 1.83 GAA and .757 save percentage to go with a 1-9-0 record and one shutout.
 
Last season, SFSU was outscored 33-14 (1.82 GPG-0.78 GPG) and was outshot 234-131 (13.0 SPG-7.0 SPG). They were issued 15 yellow cards, tied for fourth-most in the CCAA in 2023 while their 171 fouls ranked fifth. They registered seven assists on the 14 goals and posted 94 combined saves in goal and were 2-2 on penalty kicks last season.
 
SCOUTING CHICO STATE
An 11-7-1 overall mark and a 6-4-1 record in CCAA play saw the Wildcats clinch the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament last season. Chico State was a tough team to play at home in 2023, going 5-2-1 on their home pitch and shutting out the opposition in five of those eight matches.
 
More than a dozen players found the back of the net for Chico State last fall, including five players who scored three or more. Avery Pieri returns after leading the club with four goals and nine points in 2023 and is joined by Jiana Martin, younger sister Hannah Pieri and Natalie Mendoza. That trio accounted for three goals each and five assists between them while five other Wildcats who each had a single goal are also back in 2024.
 
In goal, Emma Hofmann and Peyton Johnson both return as they combined for the entirety of the minutes played last season by CSU keepers. Hofmann was the clear number one option last fall, starting all 17 matches she played for 1,530 minutes, making 77 saves and allowing just 18 goals for a 1.06 GAA and .811 save rate while going 9-7-1 with six shutouts and facing 214 shots. Johnson started her only two games of action and went 2-0-0 in those outings, allowing three goals while making eight saves in 180 minutes against 28 shots.
 
As a team, Chico State was +4 in scoring margin last year at 25-21 (1.32 GPG-1.11 GPG) and was almost even in shot attempts at 244-242 (12.8 SPG-12.7 SPG). They tallied 20 assists on their 25 goals and posted 89 saves defensively while going 3-4 on PKs.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines will look to stay perfect against SFSU on opening day, having won each of the previous three meetings with the Gators including a 4-0 win at home last fall. Friday will mark the second time the teams play in California, but the first in San Francisco as the first-ever meeting between the schools came in 2018 in Chico. Also something of note, in the three previous matches with SFSU, Mines has yet to allow a goal, posting wins of 3-0, 2-0 and 4-0.
 
When it comes to Chico State, the Orediggers will also look to remain unbeaten heading into their fourth meeting with the Wildcats, going 2-0-1 over the first three. Last season Mines also posted a 4-0 win and in their previous trip to Chico back in 2018, came away with a scoreless double overtime draw.
 
UP NEXT
Mines takes the pitch at Stermole Stadium for the first time in 2024 next weekend against a pair of Texas foes starting with Lubbock Christian on Thursday September 12 at 7:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the men's team that night before welcoming West Texas A&M to town Sunday September 15 for a noon kickoff.
 
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.