#RV Mines (1-1-0) vs. Angelo State (1-0-1) – Thursday, 7:30 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]
#RV Mines (1-1-0) vs. St. Mary's (TX) (1-0-1) – Saturday, 2:30 p.m. – Golden, Colo. [Live Stats] [RMAC Network] [Tickets]

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OREDIGGERS, RAMBELLES AND RATTLERS, OH MY
The #RV Colorado School of Mines women's soccer team is back at Stermole Stadium this weekend as they welcome a pair of teams from the Lone Star Conference to town. The Orediggers will take on Angelo State Thursday night before squaring off with St. Mary's (TX) on Saturday 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
Another good weather weekend lies in store for the Orediggers. Thursday will have plenty of sun and a high in the upper 80s with southeast winds at nine miles per hour while Saturday will be nearly the same with partly cloudy skies.
 
AT THE HELM
2026 marks the 17th season leading Mines for Kevin Fickes, the program's winningest head coach. With a career mark of 259-45-45 (.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.
 
WEEK 1 RECAP
Mines split opening weekend at Stermole Stadium, dropping a 2-1 contest to Rollins Thursday night before bouncing back with a 2-1 win over Western Oregon Sunday. Natalie Mezarina scored the equalizer Thursday after Mines fell behind early in the second half, but a late volley from long range by the Tars ended up being the difference. Sunday Natalie Rouse scored on a Gaby Guerrero corner kick shortly before halftime before Bella Campos forced a turnover and scored an unassisted goal to make it 2-0. Western Oregon scored on a long ball into the box that glanced off the fingers of Brekyn Davenport-Murrish and played a frenzied final 30 minutes as they looked for the draw, but never managed to net the equalizer.
 
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.
 
For the first time since week three of the 2021 season, the Orediggers did not appear in this week's IWSOC United Soccer Coaches Top 25 rankings. That brings an end to 45 consecutive appearances ranked inside the Top 25. However, Mines did maintain their streak of 56 consecutive appearances of either being ranked or receiving votes this well. Florida Tech and Cal Poly Pomona remained 1-2 in the first regular season edition of the poll, followed by West Chester in third, UCCS in fourth and Grand Valley State in fifth.
 
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
A week into the 2026 season, Bella Campos finds herself as the leading active goal scorer in Division II with 51 after scoring her first goal of the year Sunday. 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 with 40, 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.
 
BANG YOUR HEAD
It came as no surprise Sunday that when Natalie Rouse scored her first goal of the season, it was done in familiar fashion. The redshirt senior headed home a corner kick from Gaby Guerrero for her 13th career goal as she's now scored at least once in each of her four seasons in a Mines uniform. What's more remarkable, of those 13 goals Rouse has scored, 12 of them have been in the form of headers off of either free kicks or corner kicks. We could really even stretch to say all her goals have been the result of set piece to some degree, as the lone goal she's scored using her feet was a second ball following a corner kick against MSU Denver last season. Rouse is already a Mines graduate with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics and is currently working on her graduate degree in Operations Research with Nuclear Engineering, but continues to show she's using her head for more than just academics.
 
CHECKING THE STATS
Natalie Mezarina was first to get on the board with a goal on opening night, while Natalie Rouse and Bella Campos followed in short order on Sunday. Gaby Guerrero has the lone assist of the season so far. Campos also leads the team with 16 shots, taking eight in each of the first two matches. In goal, Brekyn Davenport-Murrish played all 180 minutes in the first two matches of her career, making four saves against three goals allowed while facing 15 shots to post a 1.50 GAA and a .571 save percentage.
 
As a unit in two matches, the Orediggers are averaging 19.0 shots per match and allowing just 7.5 to the opposition. They have one assist on their four goals and have taken 11 corner kicks. In goal they have made four saves, while they have been called for 15 fouls and issued one yellow card.
 
SCOUTING THE RAMBELLES
Under the direction of new head coach Mike Erwin, Angelo State went 1-0-1 to begin their 2026 campaign against a pair of RMAC opponents, as they drew with MSU Denver on opening day 1-1 before posting a 3-1 win over CSU Pueblo on Saturday.
 
Angelo State sports a roster of 22 this fall with just six upperclassmen, along with five sophomore and 11 freshmen. Just eight players return from last season's Rambelles team.
 
On the offensive end, four players have scored for ASU in their first two matches, as Ava Cantu, Juliana Garcia, Eleanor Lock and Zanae Nylund have one goal each. Graham Peeples has the team's only assist so far. In goal, veteran Claire Stoermer has played all 180 minutes, allowed two goals and made nine saves against 20 shots faced for a 1.00 GAA and a .818 save percentage.
 
Through two matches, the Rambelles are averaging 12.0 shots per match and holding opponents to 10.0 shots per match. They have one assist on their four goals and have taken 14 corner kicks. They are also 1-1 on penalties. In goal they've made nine saves. ASU has been whistled for 14 fouls and issued two yellow cards.
 
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
St. Mary's went 1-0-1 on opening weekend, posting a 1-1 draw against Fort Lewis on opening day before picking up their first win with a 3-1 result over Lynn.
 
Kamrynn Martinez and Anabelle Rodriguez have each scored twice in the early going, while Helen Lazaro and Elena Kossler have combined for three assists with two and one respectively. In goal, Molly Lyons has played all 180 minutes, allowed two goals and recorded 14 saves against 40 shots faced for a 2.00 GAA and an .875 save percentage.
 
In two matches, St. Mary's is averaging 14.5 shots per match while allowing 20.0 shots to opposing clubs. They have three assists on their four goals, and have taken five corner kicks. In goal, they have made 14 saves. The Rattlers have been called for 24 fouls and issued three yellow cards.

SERIES HISTORY
Thursday night will be the seventh all-time match between Mines and Angelo State, with the Orediggers leading the series 4-1-1. Mines is 3-0-0 when playing in Golden in the series and has outscored the Rambelles 8-1 in those matches. The teams last played in Stermole Stadium in the 2024 South Central Regional Final of the Division II Women's Soccer Championship, a match which the Orediggers won 3-1. Last season, the teams played in San Angelo in the regular season in a match which resulted in a 1-0 Mines win. Mines and ASU have met every season since 2022.
 
Saturday will be the third meeting between the Orediggers and Rattlers, and first since the 2014 season. Mines won each of the first two meetings in 2013 and 2014 by scores of 2-0 in Golden and 1-0 in San Antonio.
 
UP NEXT
The Orediggers hit the road for the first time in 2026 next weekend with trips to Chico State and Western Washington September 10 and 13.
 
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.