#4 Mines (0-0-0, 0-0-0 RMAC) at #18 Angelo State (0-0-0, 0-0-0 LSC) – Thursday, 7 p.m. CT – San Angelo, Texas [Live Stats] [FloCollege PPV]
#4 Mines (0-0-0, 0-0-0 RMAC) at Lubbock Christian (0-0-0, 0-0-0, LSC), Saturday, 7 p.m. CT – Lubbock, Texas [Live Stats] [FloCollege PPV]

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A NEW SEASON AWAITS
The 21st edition of Colorado School of Mines women's soccer kicks off this weekend with a trip to the Lone Star State. The first road trip of 2025 is highlighted by a ranked matchup as the #4 Orediggers get underway Thursday night with a rematch of last year's South Central Regional final against #18 Angelo State before squaring off against Lubbock Christian Saturday evening.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live video for both matches this weekend will be available for fans on a pay-per-view basis through FloCollege, which does require a subscription. Single-game access is not available. Live stats for each match will be available through StatBroadcast. All links for this weekend are available at minesathletics.com.
 
2024 RECAP
The Orediggers celebrated their 20th anniversary season in style last fall by going 20-1-2 on their way to sweeping the RMAC championships and advancing to the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship. The program also attained its first-ever #1 ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, a standing they maintained for six consecutive weeks starting in late September and running through the postseason.
 
Ava Harman, Reese McDermott and Bella Campos headlined All-RMAC honors as Defensive and Co-Offensive Players of the Year as the trio also claimed All-America honors on top of that. Head coach Kevin Fickes took home conference Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time in his tenure as well.
 
Several other Orediggers had strong seasons in 2024 as former Freshman of the Year Afton Rasco scored five times with three assists for 13 points while running mate Kaitlyn Manalili broke out with three goals and six assists for 12 points. Jolie Jiricek also added six dimes of her own from her spot in the midfield with Callie Fuhr adding three of her own from the back line, while Gaby Guerrero and Ariana Ahumada each scored as well.
 
AT THE HELM
2024 marks the 16th season leading Mines for boss Kevin Fickes, the program's winningest head coach. With a career mark of 244-42-40 (.810), 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 39 All-America selections, 19 Academic All-America selections, 87 all-conference honorees and 32 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
After having the same trio of captains for each of the last two seasons, a new group will be wearing the "C" for the Orediggers in 2025 as Callie Fuhr, Natalie Rouse and Bella Campos will lead the way this fall.
 
Fuhr, a fixture on the Orediggers' back line since 2022, has started 53 consecutive matches going back to October of her debut season and enters this fall with seven career points thanks to a goal and five assists. Across 67 matches in her career, she's clocked more than 5,250 minutes and in 2024 led the team with 2,064 minutes of action.
 
Rouse, the 2023 RMAC Defensive Player of the Year in her debut season in Golden, returns to action in 2025 after missing the final 21 matches of 2024 due to injury and will lineup alongside Fuhr to anchor the Mines defense at center back. The former All-America selection has started all of the 24 career matches in her career as an Oredigger and owns seven goals and an assist for 15 points in more than 2,100 minutes of action.
 
Campos, the latest prolific striker to come through Mines, already sports her name in the program record books in numerous places. The 2023 RMAC Freshman of the Year and 2024 RMAC Co-Player of the Year as well as a two-time All-American, Campos looks to step into a larger role in 2025 as an everyday starter. Despite just making 16 starts in her first 45 career matches, Campos has been a prolific producer on offense regardless of her role with 30 goals and 11 assists for 71 points in just over 2,100 minutes played.
 
A veteran and experienced group that has plenty of RMAC and NCAA Tournament experience, this trio will look to make an impact as leaders of the program heading into this fall.
 
IN THE POLLS
In the RMAC preseason coaches poll released in early August, the Orediggers were picked to repeat as league champions behind nine first place ballots of the 13 head coaches in the league. UCCS earned three first place ballots and was picked second with Colorado Mesa, MSU Denver and Fort Lewis rounding out the top five.
 
On the national stage, Mines was voted #4 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason Top 25 poll. Defending national champions and the team that bounced the Orediggers from the postseason Cal Poly Pomona stood atop the poll followed by Columbus State and national runners-up Minnesota State while Grand Valley rounded out the top five. Week one opponent Angelo State checked in at #18 while RMAC rival Colorado Mesa was #22. Non-conference opponents Western Washington and Seattle Pacific also garnered preseason national votes but did not appear in the Top 25.
 
NOW INTRODUCING
Seven newcomers have joined the Orediggers for the 2025 campaign, as six freshmen and a Division I transfer round out the 29-player roster. Kate Hendrickson, Taylor Johnson-Balding, Avery Kelley, Lauren Koehler, Natalie Mezarina and Demi Woods make up the group of first-year players, while Baylor transfer Caelan DeBolt joined the team in January. The newcomers will all look to make their mark on the program this fall as they compete for playing time. Learn more about each of the newcomers here.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
Bella Campos earned Preseason All-RMAC honors heading into 2025. The junior standout heads into her third year in Golden coming off a 2024 season that saw her named RMAC Co-Player of the Year to follow up a debut season in which she took home Freshman of the Year laurels. Alread a two-time All-American in her career, Campos enters this fall fifth all-time in program history in scoring with 30 goals and is the fifth player all-time to reach that mark. She also ranks fifth all-time with 71 points while her eight game-winning goals are seventh in the record books. Through two seasons she has been a part of 41 goals, more than one-third of the goals scored by the Orediggers since she joined the program in 2023 and looks to take on a larger role in 2025 as she will likely transition into an everyday starter.
 
CLIMBING THE RANKS
Don't worry Mines fans, just because Reese McDermott has moved on doesn't mean that there aren't any active players who have made a name for themselves in the program record book in 2025. Bella Campos has taken the RMAC by storm her first two seasons and after breaking the freshman goal scoring record in her debut season with 16, followed that up with a 14-goals second act in 2024 and became the fifth player in program history with 30 goals scored and enters this season eight behind Megan Woodworth (2009-12) for fourth. She's also fifth in all-time points with 71 and has some ground to make up to Woodworth in fourth at 120, but needs just 29 to hit the century mark. And oh, by the way, Campos already has eight game-winners which is good for seventh all-time, one back of Nicole LaTourette (2016-19) for sixth and two behind the great Jennifer Kendall (2015-18) for a spot in the top five.
 
Between the pipes, classmates Allie Lundgren and Sadie Wolf have made names for themselves as two of the top keepers in program history. Lundgren presently ranks fourth in all-time goals against average at 0.56 in more than 2,100 career minutes in goal, and is seventh in career shutouts with 10 and is tied for eighth in career saves with Jenny Gradishar (2006). Wolf meanwhile is fifth all-time in GAA with a 0.58 mark in more than 2,900 minutes of action and ranks fourth in career shutouts with 18 and seventh in saves with 87.
  
TEXAS TALENT
Seven Orediggers on this year's roster hail from the Lone Star State as Texas has long been a rich pool of talent for many athletics programs at Mines. Lauren Koehler, Bella Campos, Gabriela Rodríguez, Annelise Rojo, Avery Kelly, Allyson Townsend and Keira Garcia all hail from Texas roots as most of that group will be playing their home state for the first time in their collegiate careers. With friends and family sure to be in attendance, they'll all definitely look to help put on a show for their homecoming.
 
GUESS WHO'S BACK?
Much to the likely chagrin of the RMAC, one of the most dangerous set piece scorers in the league is back in 2025. After missing nearly the entirety of last season with a lower body injury, 2023 RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Natalie Rouse returns and figures to be one of the anchors of the Mines back line as well as resume her role as a scoring threat. After playing in 24 games to date in her career (22 in 2023, 2 in 2024), the UNLV transfer has seven career goals, all of which have seen Rouse on the back end of either a free kick or a corner kick. Opponents will definitely have to mark her as someone to keep an eye on when it comes to set pieces heading into this season.
 
KEEPING IT KOEHLER
Katie Koehler's five-year career with the Orediggers came to an end last season and while she may longer be donning the #2 kit in 2025, it will remain in the family. Younger sister Lauren Koehler was a part of this year's incoming signing class and will inherit her older sister's uniform. Academically, there's a striking similarity between the sisters as well as Lauren will follow in Katie's footsteps and pursue a degree in Electrical Engineering. And while she may not see time this season as she recovers from an injury suffered in her senior season of high school, when Lauren debuts in a Mines uniform, it'll be in a similar place as well, helping anchor the Orediggers' back line.
 
TRICENTENIAL MILESTONE
Heading into the 21st season of women's soccer at Mines, the program's next win will be a milestone one as it will be the 300th win in school history. Over the first 20 iterations of the program, the Orediggers have recorded 18 winning campaigns and averaged 14.9 wins per season and won 15 or more matches 13 times. Frank Kohlenstein, the program's first head coach, led Mines to a mark of 55-36-9 (.595) over his five season at the helm, while assistant turned successor Kevin Fickes has gone 244-42-40 (.810) over his first 15 seasons in charge. Heading into 2025, the Silver & Blue own an all-time record of 299-78-49 (.759) and will look keep up their winning ways heading into their third decade of competition.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Though four of their top six scorers from a year ago have moved on, the Orediggers are still a dangerous offense unit led by Bella Campos who scored 14 goals to go along with seven assists for 35 points in her sophomore season. Afton Rasco was third on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists for 13 points, while Kaitlyn Manalili tallied 12 points in a breakout season behind three goals and six dimes.
 
Ariana Ahumade, Gaby Guerrero and Natalie Rouse all scored once last fall, while Jolie Jiricek was tied with Manalili in assists with six, the third-best mark on the club. Callie Fuhr also added three assists from her spot as an outside back as Jordan Bowermaster also got on the board with an assist in her debut season.
 
All 2,090 minutes of goalkeeping time from last year returns in 2025 as Allie Lundgren emerged as the start and got the nod 20 times in 21 outings. She logged 1,840:05 between the pipes and made 58 saves against 163 shots for an .829 save rate and allowed just 12 goals for a 0.59 GAA on her way to an 18-1-2 record with nine solo shutouts. Senior classmate Sadie Wolf played the remaining 249:55 last fall and started three times in five outings and made seven saves against 17 shots for an .875 rate and allowed a single goal for a 0.36 GAA as she went 2-0-0 with a shutout of her out. The duo combined for a further three shutouts while Keira Garcia, who did not see time last fall, enters her third year on campus having seen time in four matches with two starts for 225 minutes and recorded five saves against 19 shots for a .833 save percentage and just one goal allowed for a 0.40 GAA. In her four games she is 1-0-1 with one solo and one combined shutout.
 
As a team in 2024, the Orediggers outscored the opposition 61-13 and averaged 2.65 goals on 19.8 shots per game while allowing just 0.57 goals on 7.8 shots per match. Mines tallied 47 assists on those 61 goals and attempted 145 corner kicks and went 4-7 on penalties last fall. Defensively, Mines tallied 66 saves and were issued just eight cautions for misconduct.
 
SCOUTING ANGELO STATE
The Rambelles went 14-2-5 and 10-0-3 in LSC action on their way to sweeping the LSC titles and hosting the opening weekend of NCAA Tournament action before seeing their season end in Golden in the third round. ASU will host Oklahoma Baptist Saturday afternoon to close out their opening weekend of action. Angelo State was picked to finish second in the Lone Star Conference this season behind Dallas Baptist.
 
The top five goal scorers for the Rambelles in 2024 who accounted for 23 of the team's 26 goals are back, headed by Sanai Stewart who led the team in goals (7), assists (4) and points (18) last fall. Madison Bourzikas scored five times with one assists for 11 points in a reserve role while Abby James and Christina Clark each scored four times. Graycen Rasmussen scored three times in limited action as she missed the entire month of October before returning for the postseason.
 
Brianna Rodriguez is the final returning goal scorer as the found the net once last season while Harper Saxon and Ashlyn Vick will look to build off seasons in which they tallied single points by way of assists.
 
Of the three keepers on the ASU roster this fall, just one, Melyna Martinez has experience playing for the Rambelles as she logged just 29:44 in two matches last season and faced only one shots while not recording any other statistics. Millicent Switzer has been with the program three seasons already and has yet to see time, so the eyes will look to Oklahoma Baptist transfer Claire Stoermer who started all 19 games for the Bison last fall and played all but 34 seconds of the 1,750 minutes of time in 2024. Stoermer went 6-6-7 with seven shouts as she posted 84 saves against 234 shots for an .816 save rate and allowed 19 goals for a 0.98 save rate as she was named to the GAC All-Tournament Team.
 
Last fall, Angelo State outscored teams at a 3:1 clip as they were +24 in scoring margin at 36-12. They scored 1.71 goals on 14.4 shots per match while allowing 0.57 goals on 7.9 shots to the opposition. ASU tallied just 17 assists on their 36 goals and took 86 corner kicks while going 2-2 on Pks. Defensively they made 70 saves in goal and were issued 23 cautions in 2024 as part of 206 fouls committed.
 
SCOUTING LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN
The Lady Chaps went 8-7-3 overall last fall and 6-5-2 in LSC play as they just missed out on postseason action. Saturday night will be the program's season opener as they'll host CSU Pueblo Monday afternoon. Lubbock Christian was tabbed to finish in the midfield of the Lone Star Conference this fall in seventh.
 
One half of the team's leading scoring duo is back in 2025 as Ella Spiller looks to build off a season in which she scored five goals and led the Lady Chaps with seven assists for 17 points as a freshman. Journey Curs is back as well after scoring three goals with four assists for 10 points as is Claire Jacobson who also found the net three times and assisted on a goal as well for seven points.
 
Bonnie Miller scored twice with two assists for six points in her debut season while Duschka Diaz and Taylor Sal each return after scoring one goal apiece in 2024. Meanwhile, another combined four assists from last fall are back in the persons of Emma Best, Mia Chambliss and Lauren Rotan.
 
In goal, two of three keepers from last season are back at Kara Murray and Emma Wright are sporting new numbers and bringing plenty of experience with them. Last fall Wright started the most out of the trio that included since-departed Megan Mirabel, getting the nod seven times in eight matches for 536.10 and making a team-leading 29 saves against 94 shots for a .806 save percentage and allowing just seven goals for a 1.18 GAA as she posted a mark of 2-3-1 with one combined shutout. Murray started all five matches she appeared in for an even 450 minutes and was second behind Wright with 16 saves against 43 shots for an .800 save rate and allowed the fewest goals last season, ceding just four to register a 0.80 GAA as she went 2-2-1 with three solo shutouts.
 
Collectively, LCU was +3 in scoring margin last fall at 25-22 and averaged 1.39 goals on 12.3 shots while allowing 1.22 goals on 11.3 shots per match. They tallied 22 assists on their 25 goals and attempted 55 corner kicks. The combined for 64 saves defensively and were issued 11 cautions for aggressive play.

SERIES HISTORY
Anytime the Orediggers and Rambelles get together, the on-field product is usually a good show as evidenced by the most recent meeting in the third round of last year's NCAA Tournament which Mines won 3-1. Opening night will be the sixth all-time meeting between the schools and in the previous five matchups, the Orediggers are 3-1-1. The last trip to San Angelo came in 2022 and resulted in a 2-2 draw with all four goals being scoring the final 39 minutes.
 
Last fall was the first-ever meeting between Mines and Lubbock Christian and resulted in a 2-0 win for the Orediggers in Golden. Saturday night will be the program's first trip to Lubbock and second meeting between the schools.
 
UP NEXT
Mines makes their 2025 home debut in a midweek battle September 10 at 7 p.m. against #RV Western Washington.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's soccer on X 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.