GOLDEN, Colo. – Bella Campos broke the Mines all-time career goals record while
Caelan DeBolt scored the game-winner as the Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team rallied for a 2-1 in their RMAC Tournament quarterfinal match against Black Hills State.
The Yellow Jackets (10-5-4) scored first in the match, but goals by Campos and DeBolt in the 25th and 58th minutes combined with a stifling second half defensive performance propelled the Orediggers (13-3-3) to the win and an appearance in the tournament semifinals.
Black Hills State needed just 4:29 to score the opening goal of the match in their first-ever postseason appearance. A long ball ahead was collected and played off by Ally Boysen to Kylea Becker. Becker took the pass and despite tight and physical defense by
Gaby Guerrero, Becker managed to squeeze off a shot, stepping back from about 25 yards out beyond the top of the penalty area and shooting a ball that deflected off the fingertips of
Keira Garcia and in for the opening goal of the match.
Undeterred, Mines went about knotting things back up as play resumed. Garcia rebounded with a pair of saves back-to-back in the 11th minute while
Bella Campos and Guerrero started taking aim at Rian Barthel in goal. In the 25th minute, a Mines throw in set the table for the equalizer.
Jordan Bowermaster keyed things back in motion with a throw to
Finley Ewald on the near side. Ewald played it back to Bowermaster, who drove toward the end line before crossing the ball back inside to the top of the six for Campos, as she skied over a defender for the header on the near post to knot the match at 1-1. That score held up for the final 20 minutes of the half as the teams went to the intermission deadlocked.
Coming out to start the second half, the Orediggers peppered Barthel in goal as the Yellow Jacket goalie made save after save to keep her club in it. Eventually the volume of shots and the relentless pressure on offense by Mines was too much to withstand, as the 58th minute saw
Caelan DeBolt deliver the go-ahead score. With BHSU trying to clear the ball away,
Sam Forde won possession and passed into the near corner for
Lindsay Jeans. Jeans dribbled toward the end line and got a step on the defender before sending a beautiful cross to the back post for the finish off the right foot of DeBolt with no chance to make a save by Barthel as Mines went in front 2-1.
Not content leading by one, the Orediggers continued to dominate possession and kept piling up shot after shot against Barthel, who regathered herself to make save after save to keep BHSU in contention. A flurry of late substitutions proved fruitless by BHSU, as the Orediggers turned in a vintage second half defensive effort to close out the 2-1 win.
NOTABLES
-Campos' goal was her 27th of the season and 77th of her career, as she broke the program career goals record previously held by Mines Hall of Famer Kayla (Mitchell) Jacobsen since 2009
-Campos' goal Sunday extended her goal streak to five matches, one shy of her career long of six; she has now scored in 14 of 19 matches this season
-DeBolt's goal was her fourth of the season and third game-winning score as she recorded a point for the fourth match in a row
-Bowermaster's assist on the Campos goal was her sixth of the season and fifth in the last three matches; she's now the eight different Oredigger in program history with an assist in three consecutive matches
-Jeans' assist on the DeBolt goal was her ninth of the season and puts her in sole possession of the team lead this season; she needs just one more assist to become the ninth player in program history with 10 or more assists in a single season
-Garcia made two saves in goal in the first half
-
Emma Thomas, seeing her first action of the year in goal in the second half, made one save to close out the action
-Mines outshot Black Hills State 25-8 overall and 14-4 in shots on goal, including a 17-4 advantage in shots in the second half
-The Orediggers took 15 corner kicks Sunday, the fifth-most in a match all-time and most since they took 16 at CSU Pueblo in last season's regular season finale
UP NEXT
Mines advances to the semifinals of the 2026 RMAC Women's Soccer Championship Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. against #2 seed UCCS. The match will be held on the campus of regular season champion and #1 seed Regis.
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, X and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.
