GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – For the first time since 2011, Colorado Mesa women's soccer will be playing in the RMAC Tournament championship game.

The fourth-seeded Mavs have knocked off fifth-seeded MSU Denver and eighth-seeded Westminster on their run to the final, where they will be hosted by Colorado School of Mines, the RMAC's No. 2 seed. Both teams are also nationally ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll, with Mines at No. 4 and CMU at No. 18.

The winner of the match will earn the RMAC's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament, although both schools have solid cases for an at-large bid if they come up short. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday in Golden, Colorado.

Under a new policy for the 2023-24 season enacted by the RMAC, conference tournament games are now on a pay-per-view model. The game can also be followed via live stats for fans not watching the game in person.

A Note From the RMAC
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference has announced the addition of a subscription model to all 2023-24 RMAC championship broadcasts on the RMAC Network, the league announced Wednesday. The announcement comes after support from league leadership in the summer to implement the pay-per-view concept as a manner to offset the league's broadcasting initiatives and operations associated with championship events.
 
Among the RMAC fall championship sports within the subscription model are all three rounds of tournament play for men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball. Winter sports with championship events within the league's subscription model are men's basketball, women's basketball, women's wrestling, indoor track and field and swimming and diving. Men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, baseball, softball and outdoor track and field round out the subscription events for the 2023-24 academic year.
 
Fans will be able to purchase day passes for each day of tournament play, priced at $9.95 per day. To purchase the day pass, fans will navigate to www.rmacnetwork.com and will be directed to select the institution that they are supporting through their viewership. Once the payment submission is complete, fans will have access to any RMAC championship contest available for that specific sport. Day passes will expire within 24 hours of the purchase.
 
For technical support questions, fans may submit a support ticket with Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (help@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.

Looking Back
Colorado Mesa scored twice in the match's first 11 minutes on its way to a 3-0 victory in the RMAC Tournament semifinal over Westminster.

RECAP: Westminster

Sauvelyne Randel and Kylie Wells had a goal and an assist apiece while Mikayla Eccher scored her third goal of the season just two and a half minutes into the game. Westminster did not have a shot on goal in the first half and Keely Wieczorek made three saves in the second half.  

Tournament Update
After a quarterfinal round that featured two overtime games and an eight-over-one upset, the semifinals of the RMAC women's soccer tournament were drama-free by comparison.
The Mavericks won 3-0 over Westminster, whose run ended in the semifinals after the upset of UCCS. In the other semifinals, it was all Colorado School of Mines as the second-seeded Orediggers topped third-seeded Regis 4-0.

Three Orediggers had a goal and an assist apiece in cyclical fashion. RMAC Freshman of the Year Bella Campos got Mines in the board in the 12^th minute with her league-leading 16^th goal. She was assisted by Cloey Seltzer, who then scored herself in the 23^rd minute. Seltzer's goal was assisted by RMAC Player of the Year Reese McDermott, who then tallied her 11^th goal of the season unassisted for Mines's third in the 51^st minute. Paola Rubi capped the scoring with a strike from distance in the 57^th minute, assisted by Campos.

During the match, Mines outshot Regis 26-5, including a 12-1 edge in shots on goal. Combined with a 3-0 win over Fort Lewis in the quarterfinal round, Mines is outscoring opponents 7-0 during their tournament run.

Summit Award
Colorado Mesa women's soccer made program history earlier this week when Mira Houck was named the winner of the 2023 RMAC Women's Soccer Summit Award.

Summit Award Release

Houck became the first CMU women's soccer player to receive the prestigious award, presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA that is also competing at the site of the finals for their respective sport's championship. Houck has a perfect 4.0 GPA during her time at Colorado Mesa as a sociology major.

Houck will be presented with the award during a pregame ceremony before Sunday's match.

Steady Production
Two Maverick attack players to earn all-conference accolades were Sauvelyne Randel (1^st team) and Kylie Wells (2^nd team), and both players have been performing at a high level in the most important games of the season.

Both Randel and Wells have scored in each of the last three matches, a stretch that lines up with CMU's current three-game winning streak after a three-game losing streak that are CMU's only losses of the season to this point.

Randel has recorded at least a goal and an assist in each of the last three matches. With a two-goal game in the regular-season finale against Westminster, Randel has four goals and three assists during CMU's current three-game winning streak. Randel leads the Mavericks and ranks second in the RMAC with 13 goals and 32 points. She is tied with Haley Klasner for the team lead with six assists on the season.

Wells also has a goal in each of the last three games, also recording an assist in both the regular season and semifinal matches against Westminster. The past few games are part of a larger second half run for Wells, who has recorded all 17 of her points this season against RMAC competition. Wells's seven goals are second on the team and tied for sixth in the conference.

Shutout Streak
Colorado School of Mines is in the middle of a historical defensive run. The Orediggers have recorded 10 consecutive shutouts, a program record.

Mines has not allowed a goal since the fourth minute of an October 1^st match vs. Regis and have spanned 986 minutes of game time without conceding. The streak includes Mines's 4-0 win over the Mavericks on October 26 in Grand Junction.

Colorado School of Mines is outscoring opponents 59-8 throughout the season. The Orediggers have only allowed four goals during RMAC play and have a staggering 15 shutouts over their 20 matches of 2023. Three teams have been able to score twice against the vaunted Mines defense – current regional No. 1 DBU, Seattle Pacific and UCCS. The Orediggers are 0-2-1 when allowing multiple goals.

By The Numbers
Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines are certainly worthy of being the last two teams standing in the RMAC.

The Mavericks were unranked in the preseason national poll but have been in every subsequent poll, winning their first nine matches and staying unbeaten over their first 13. CMU reached a program-record national ranking of No. 4 on two separate occasions during the weeks of October 3 and October 24 and spent a total of six weeks ranked in the national top 10 this season.

Colorado School of Mines entered the year as the preseason No. 4 nationally ranked team and rose to a high of No. 2 on September 12. They fell from the top 10 the following week but have been nationally ranked in every poll this season. Mines returned to the top 10 during the October 31 poll and are back to No. 4 in the most recent poll from November 7, their highest ranking since being No. 2.

Mines and Mesa rank first and third, respectively, in the RMAC in both goals scored (59 for Mines, 48 for CMU) and goals allowed (eight for Mines, 14 for CMU). Mines leads the conference in shots taken (453) while CMU is second (375). Mines leads the RMAC and ranks seventh in all of Division II with 2.6 assists per game, the Mavericks are right behind them in the RMAC with 1.6 assists per game.

The hallmark of a good defense is not letting your goalie touch the ball, and by that metric, these are the two stiffest back lines in the RMAC. Mines goalkeepers only have 35 saves this season, the fewest in the RMAC, but still has the fourth-best save percentage in the conference at .814. Mavs goalkeepers have the second-fewest saves in the conference with 52 all season. The Colorado Mesa defense has allowed two shots or fewer in a game against five different opponents this season.

Both teams are disciplined, as well. Mines commits the second-fewest fouls in the country at 5.5 per game and have only received two yellow cards, which is in a three-way tie for the fewest in Division II. The Mavericks have the fourth-fewest fouls per game in the RMAC at 7.16.  

Regional Rankings
Last Wednesday, the NCAA released the third edition of their regional rankings as a preview to the NCAA Tournament bracket.

Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa are ranked second and third, respectively, in the South Central region. With the top six teams from the region making the NCAA Tournament, both schools are in a good position to qualify regardless of the outcome of Sunday's title game.
Dallas Baptist leads the South Central rankings ahead of the two RMAC tournament final participants. Texas Woman's is fourth, followed by UCCS, St. Mary's, Texas A&M International and Regis.

DBU and St. Mary's are facing one another in the Lone Star Conference tournament championship game, also Sunday at 1 p.m. Texas Woman's, Texas A&M International and UCCS each lost in the quarterfinals of their respective conference tournaments, while Regis lost in the semifinal round.

About Colorado School of Mines
Picked to win the RMAC in preseason, Colorado School of Mines instead finished second in the standings by a point to UCCS, who defeated the Orediggers in the very first conference game of the season. The Orediggers haven't lost since and will ride a nine-game winning streak, 13-game unbeaten streak and 10-game shutout streak into their matchup with CMU.

Mines has overcome tests throughout their schedule, tying regional No. 1 DBU and topping Lone Star semifinalist Angelo State 4-0. They also boast a 2-0 win over Western Washington, the defending national champions. Mines's two losses have come to Seattle Pacific (No. 1 in the West regional rankings) and UCCS while they have tied DBU, CSU Pueblo and Fort Lewis.

The Orediggers boast the RMAC Player of the Year in Reese McDermott, the Freshman of the Year in Bella Campos and the Defensive Player of the Year in Natalie Rouse. Those three players, along with junior midfielder Elise Putnam, were all named First Team All-Conference, giving CSM tied for the most first-team picks in the RMAC.

Campos leads the RMAC with 16 goals, including a hat trick in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinal. Putnam leads the conference with nine assists. McDermott has filled up the stat sheet, ranking third in the RMAC in goals (11) and points (30) while ranking second behind Putnam with eight assists. McDermott also leads the RMAC with 81 shots, 19 more than any other RMAC player.

Head Coach Kevin Fickes is in his 14^th season at Mines. In the previous 13, Fickes has six RMAC regular season titles and four RMAC Coach of the Year awards, earning both last season. Fickes won his 200^th career game during the 2022 season.

The Mavericks are only 4-19-1 all-time against Colorado School of Mines. The Mavs got a monumental 3-1 win over the Orediggers the last time CMU won a regular season RMAC title in 2021. Prior to that win, Mines had won 12 in a row and been unbeaten in the last 17 matchups from 2008-2021. Mines won 1-0 last season in Golden and 4-0 earlier this year in Grand Junction.