#12 Mines (0-0-0) vs. Rollins (0-0-0) – Thursday, 7 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]
#12 Mines (0-0-0) vs. Western Oregon (0-0-0) – Sunday, 12 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]

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KICKING OFF A NEW SEASON
A long offseason comes to an end Thursday night as the defending Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions #12 Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team kicks off their 2026 season at Stermole Stadium. The Orediggers welcome a pair of opponents from each side of the country for the first weekend of the season, taking on Rollins from Winter Park, Florida opening night before hosting Western Oregon Sunday afternoon.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend's matches will be available to watch with a subscription to the RMAC Network. Free live stats will be available as well. Links for video and stats can be found on minesathletics.com.
 
RMAC NETWORK 
The RMAC Network continues to have a pay-per-view model for all events. Fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $12.50, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours. For technical support questions, fans can contact Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
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.
 
WEEKEND FORECAST
Thursday night is shaping up to be an ideal evening for soccer, with temperatures cooling from a high of 86 during the day and winds from the northeast at 5-10 miles per hour. Sunday meanwhile will be overcast in the morning with chances of thunderstorms in the afternoon with a high of 83.
 
AT THE HELM
2026 marks the 17th season leading Mines for Kevin Fickes, the program's winningest head coach. With a career mark of 258-44-45 (.808), he ranks eighth in all of the NCAA and fourth 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 41 All-America selections, 21 Academic All-America selections, 93 all-conference honorees and 34 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.
 
2025 RECAP
Mines posted a mark of 14-2-5 overall and 9-1-2 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action in 2025 on their way to the program's 11th RMAC Tournament title. The postseason crown was the third in the last for seasons for the Orediggers as they went back-to-back for the seventh time in program history. Mines was also the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II last season, spending two weeks at #1 and a total of nine weeks in the Top 10 before finishing ultimately finishing #13. The Orediggers also hosted the opening weekend of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship for the fourth year in a row and made their 17th conference appearance in the national tournament.
 
Bella Campos was named RMAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row while Natalie Rouse returned to action and earned RMAC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second time in her career. The duo also All-America honors for their performances from the United Soccer Coaches and D2CCA.
 
Other standouts included Kaitlyn Manalili and Afton Rasco as they both recorded 10 assists on the season and became just the second pair of teammates to reach double figures in the same season. Allie Lundgren was an All-Region selection and RMAC Tournament MVP as her postseason was highlighted by a performance for the ages in a 10-round penalty shootout in the RMAC semifinals against UCCS. Rounding out the standouts from last season were Jolie Jiricek and Gaby Guerrero, who each earned Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors.
 
THE CAPTAINS
A seasoned group of veterans will be wearing the "C" this fall for the Orediggers. Bella Campos and Natalie Rouse enter their second seasons as captains, while Gaby Guerrero rounds out the on-field leadership group. Campos is coming off her second consecutive RMAC Player of the Year award after scoring 20 goals with four assists for 44 points. Rouse, who missed most of 2024 with injury, returned in 2025 to earn her second RMAC Defensive Player of the Year award after scoring five times from her center back position and anchoring a defense that posted nine shutouts. Guerrero was named Honorable Mention All-RMAC last fall as a standout midfielder who scored twice with an assist.
 
IN THE POLLS
Mines topped August's RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll followed closely by Colorado Mesa and UCCS. Fort Lewis and Regis rounded out the top five followed by Westminster, MSU Denver, Colorado Christian, CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado in the top 10. Adams State, Black Hills State and New Mexico Highlands rounded out the 13-team rankings.
 
Nationally, Mines checked in at #12 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25. Defending national champions Florida Tech topped the opening poll of the year followed by Cal Poly Pomona, Franklin Pierce, Washburn and Dallas Baptist. Around the RMAC UCCS was ranked #10 while Colorado Mesa received votes. Other preseason ranked opponents on the schedule include #18 Western Washington and #RV Chico State.
 
FIVE YEARS OF ELIGIBILITY PASSES
In early August, NCAA Division II passed a sweeping change to eligibility rules that now gives all student-athletes five seasons of eligibility in a five-year span, and eliminates redshirting. It will apply to this year's incoming freshmen, and returning players can either convert to the new rule or be grandfathered into continuing with the old four-year model, whichever is more beneficial. The new rules supersede the previous freshman rule that allowed them to play in up to four games while still redshirting. 
 
NCAA CHANGES POSTSEASON PROCESS
Another significant change coming to NCAA Division II is how they select the postseason championship field. Playoff selections will now be handled solely by the NCAA Power Index (NPI) instead of regional committees, removing the human element from the process; NPI takes into account winning percentage and strength of schedule, quality wins, and home/away weights, rewarding challenging schedules and road wins more so than in years past.
 
HELLO THERE
12 newcomers joined the Orediggers for the upcoming season. Mid-year spring arrivals Bella Torres and Gwen McAllister are joined by Addison Bailey, Brekyn Davenport-Murrish, Molly Elder, Gabby Herfindahl, Lucy Hays, Haliya Jabel, Shyla Kalpathy, Madisen Powers, Veronica Weston and Skyla Yu. Read more about each of the newcomers here.
 
NCAA ACTIVE CAREER SCORING LEADER
Entering the 2026 season, Bella Campos finds herself as the leading active goal scorer in Division II with 50, and as a new season gets underway, also tops the charts in goals across all three levels of the NCAA. The current active leader in Division I in goals scored is Alabama's Larkin Thomason, and while the Division III season is yet to get underway, Eowyn Lapp is the leading returner offensively with 46 goals. That mark ranked 13th at the conclusion of the 2025 season, as the 12 players in front of her all exhausted their eligibility.
 
SET PIECE SENSATION
When she's on the field in set piece situations, Natalie Rouse is one of the best around when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. The sixth-year senior has 12 career goals, 11 of which have come on the back of either free kicks or corner kicks. Even her lone flow of play goal came from winning a second ball off a set piece. Whether she's been wearing #7 or #19, Rouse has always one opposing teams need to mark in those critical situations.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Reigning RMAC Player of the Year Bella Campos returns for her final season after scoring 20 goals with four assists for 44 points in 2025. Center back Natalie Rouse returned to action as RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and remained dangerous on set piece actions, scoring five times for 10 points. Gaby Guerrero and Lindsay Jeans each scored twice with an assist last fall while Caelan DeBolt and Annelise Rojo each scored twice as well. Natalie Mezarina scored once while Jordan Bowermaster logged an assist.
 
In goal Mines will have to replace RMAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Allie Lundgren, but has experienced keepers who will battle for time this season. Emma Thomas was the primary backup last fall, making six appearances for 176:11 and making 10 saves against one goal allowed for a 0.51 GAA and a .909 save rate as she combined for three of the team's nine shutouts in 2025. Keira Garcia hasn't seen action the last two seasons, but did make four appearances with two starts as a freshman in 2023, logging 225 minutes and making five saves against one goal allowed for a 0.40 GAA and an .833 save percentage to go with a 1-0-1 record and a pair of shutouts.
 
On the year, Mines was +24 in goal differential at 40-16 and scored 1.90 goals per match against 0.76 defensively. They recorded 30 assists and took 283 shots with 109 on frame. Defensively the Orediggers made 94 saves and went 9-11 from the spot. Mines was whistled for 124 fouls in 2025 and assessed four cautions and one red card.
 
SCOUTING THE TARS
Rollins is coming off a 7-6-4 overall performance in 2025 that included a mark of 3-4-3 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Tars picked up a 4-3 shootout win the SSC quarterfinals before seeing their season ended in the tournament semifinals by Florida Tech.
 
Leading scorer Alayna Townsend is back after scoring six times with an assist for 13 points in 2025. Defender Emma McMurry was second in scoring with five goals and one assist for 11 points while Gabby Boyd scored twice with two assists for six points. Allie Adams, Sophia Harutunian and Skylar Kruszka are all back this season after scoring once each last year.
 
In goal, the pair of Lauren Mehos and Sidney Powers return after accounting for all 1,550 minutes between the pipes. Mehos started all 17 matches and played all but 3:09 during the season. She recorded 72 saves against 16 goals allowed for a 0.93 GAA and an .818 save percentage on her way to a 7-6-4 record with five solo shutouts. Powers appeared once for Rollins and combined with Mehos for a sixth shutout in her only action of the season and did not record any stats.
 
As a team in 2025, Rollins was +8 in scoring at 24-16 and averaged 1.41 goals per match against 0.94 defensively. They took 216 shots with 114 on frame while recording 13 assists. Rollins recorded 73 saves defensively and took 86 corner kicks while going 1-1 from the spot. The Tars committed 152 fouls last season and were issued 14 cautions.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVES
Western Oregon posted a mark of 11-5-5 overall and 8-2-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Wolves made appearances in both the GNAC and NCAA Tournaments, but saw each of their postseason runs ended by a pair of one-goal losses to Simon Fraser.
 
After the departure of head coach Kacey Bingham in the offseason, Nate Ulness will lead the Wolves into the 2026 season.
 
Just 10 players, Ayanah Soon, Kaia Borje-Peeples, Kylie Jones, Kate Seibert, Leiloa Fesolai, Abby Doyle, Olivia Boger, Kyra DiBenedetto, Tamerra Cervantes Carlos and Grace Townsend, return from last year's team that upset the Orediggers in Monmouth.
 
Boger led the Wolves in scoring last fall, finding the net seven times while assisting twice for 16 points. Borje-Peoples scored once in 19 matches off the bench as did DiBenedetto who also logged an assist. Doyle, Townsend and Seibert also saw action last season but did not register any offensive statistics.
 
In goal, WOU will look to the trio of Ayanah Soon, Emma Powell and Jasmine Espinoza to take over after the departures of Bella Lopez and Xeyana Salanoa. Soon didn't see action in 2025, while Espinoza started five times in six matches as a freshman at MSU Billings. In 450 minutes, she allowed 12 goals and made 23 saves for a 2.40 GAA and a .657 save rate while posting a 1-5-0 record. Espinoza previously spent time at Colorado Northwestern Community College and most recently Salt Lake Community College in 2024. There she started once in five matches for 196:58 and made three saves against the only three shots she faced and was part of five shutouts.
 
As a team in 2025, WOU was +13 in goal differential at 31-18 and averaged 1.48 goals per match against 0.86 goals defensively. They recorded 22 assists and took 278 shots with 128 on frame. Defensively they combined for 71 saves and went 2-2 on penalty kicks. The Wolves were whistled for 181 fouls last fall and issued just six cautions along with one red card.

SERIES HISTORY
Opening night will be the third all-time meeting between Mines and Rollins. The teams have split the first two meetings, with the Tars winning a 1-0 decision in the NCAA Tournament in 2014 before the Orediggers took a 2-0 result in the fall 2021 season. Thursday will be the first time the teams have met in Golden.
 
Last season was the first meeting between the Wolves and Orediggers as Western Oregon prevailed with a 2-1 win in Monmouth to upset then top-ranked Mines.
 
UP NEXT
Mines is back home next weekend for two matches against teams from the Lone Star State against Angelo State and St. Mary's on Thursday September 3 and Saturday September 5.
 
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.