GOLDEN, Colo. – Colorado Mesa women's soccer dominated from start to finish as the fourth-seeded Mavericks stunned Colorado School of Mines on its own field by a 3-0 score in the final of the RMAC Tournament.

The win clinched Colorado Mesa's second ever RMAC Tournament championship and first since 1998. It also clinches CMU women's soccer's first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011 as the Mavs wrap up the RMAC's automatic qualifying bid with the tournament win.

Redshirt senior Mikayla Eccher was named the RMAC Tournament MVP after scoring twice in the title game and three times overall in the tournament. It was the first two-goal game for Eccher across her 74-game collegiate career. Kylie Wells also scored for the Mavericks, securing her fourth consecutive match with a goal.

The Mavericks broke through Mines's vaunted defense, scoring three times against a team that had kept 10 consecutive shutouts entering Sunday's match. The Mavs jumped on their early chances, as Eccher scored in the game's third minute for the second consecutive game and the Mavs likewise tallied another goal within the first two minutes of the second half.

Colorado Mesa seemed to be in the right place at the right time all the time, completely flipping the script from 17 days ago, when the same Mines squad defeated CMU 4-0 in Grand Junction for the second loss in a three-game late-season Mavs losing streak. The Mavericks were purposeful both offensively and defensively, making crisp one or two-touch passes with one another and repeatedly clogging the passing lanes of the Oredigger attack.

The visiting Mavericks landed the first punch almost immediately out of the gate. Just four days after scoring in the third minute in the RMAC semifinal against Westminster, Eccher cut inside from the left wing and opened up towards the far post with a shot. At the 2:05 mark of the game, the ball took a short hop in front of Mines goalie Sadie Wolf, who was diving to her left, and the ball skipped over the goalie's hand high into the net. The goal stopped the Orediggers' scoreless streak at 981 minutes.

Eccher scored again in the 25^th minute, and the second goal was nearly identical to the first goal, except this time, Eccher struck with her left foot as Mines were unable to completely clear a corner. Sophomore center back Ally Wachtel played the ball back up to Eccher, who was able to turn and hit another one-hopper past a sprawling Wolf.

While the offense stole the headlines for cracking the Orediggers' defense, CMU's back line was the one putting on a show throughout the contest. Mines didn't register a shot on goal for the first half-hour as Maverick defenders put their bodies on the line in front of freshman goalkeeper Keely Wieczorek.

Wachtel went low to the ground to block a shot by Landry Corbett in the 28^th minute and the first Mines shot near goal was a header by Natalie Rouse that Eccher controlled with her chest in front of Wieczorek, who had it covered. The first save for Wieczorek came in the 30^th minute from Ava Harman whose header was deflected into the air for the freshman keeper to easily corral.
In the 42^nd minute, Wieczorek came sprinting out of her goal to intercept a free kick cross into the box, but spilled the ball back towards the top of the box as she slid. Mines played the ball back in, but Katie Koehler put her shot wide, and an open Oredigger with a tap-in at the far post couldn't touch it because she was in an offside position. CMU held a 10-7 shots advantage and 4-1 shots on goal advantage in the first half.

No sooner had the whistle blown for the second half when the Mavericks put the ball in the net again just 1:59 after halftime. Adessa Correa hit a perfect through ball on the ground that allowed Kylie Wells to run onto the ball with an instant one-on-one against the keeper. Wells finished with a calm toe poke into the bottom right corner and suddenly, the Mavs were the first time in the 2023 season to score three times on Mines.

From there, it seemed like all the Mavericks needed to do was pass the ball around to run out the clock, and the Mavs were practically able to keep possession at will throughout most of the second half. Wieczorek made four saves in total, with the scariest moment coming in the 52^nd minute when she rushed off her line to make a save with her foot while colliding with Mines's Ava Harman.

Six Mavericks made the All-Tournament team, led by Eccher and Wells. Also earning a spot were Adessa Correa (one assist Sunday, one goal/one assist total), Sauvelyne Randel (two goals and two assists in the tournament), Ally Wachtel and Keely Wieczorek (shutouts in the semifinal and final).

Next up for the Mavs is the NCAA Selection Show on Monday night at 4:30 p.m. (MT). The show will be streamed live on NCAA.com and the Mavs will learn their seeding assignment and site location. The top two seeds in the region will be hosts for the first round matches this Thursday and second round matches on Saturday.