GOLDEN, Colo. –  One of the most common clichés in sports, especially during the postseason, is "win or go home." Well, the Colorado Mesa women's soccer team just decided they might as well do both.

First, the Mavericks won, pulling ahead on Sauvelyne Randel's 15^th goal of the season in the 107^th minute that gave the Mavericks a 1-0 NCAA Tournament second round victory over Colorado School of Mines, the Mavericks' second victory on the Orediggers' field in as many Sundays. The win is CMU's 18^th of the season, setting a new single-season program record for wins, and marks the first time in program history the Mavs have won multiple NCAA Tournament games.

But the Mavs also get to go home and stay there for a while, having earned the right to play up to their next two matches in Grand Junction at Community Hospital Unity Field. The third-seeded Mavericks are the highest seed remaining in the South Central regional after fourth-seeded UCCS beat top-seed DBU yesterday.

The Mavericks and Mountain Lions will square off for the South Central Regional title on Thursday, November 30 at 5 p.m. Grand Junction will also host the West Regional final between Point Loma and Seattle Pacific at 2 p.m. the same day, and the winners of those two match-ups will face one another in an NCAA national quarterfinal on Saturday, December 2, which will also take place in Grand Junction whether the Mavs advance or not.

To reach this point, however, Colorado Mesa had to again beat an extremely talented Mines team that had been resting and plotting its revenge since losing 3-0 to CMU in the RMAC Tournament championship game last Sunday. The Orediggers hit the frame of the goal twice and outshot the Mavericks 29-6, but goalkeeper Keely Wieczorek made a career-high seven saves as the defense kept its fourth consecutive postseason shutout and Randel finished the Mavericks' best chance of the night to bury the hosts.

Unlike the RMAC semifinals and finals where CMU scored in the third minute, it was the hosts who nearly grabbed an immediate lead when Mines midfielder Elise Putnam thundered a shot off the crossbar just 90 seconds into the match. Mines had most of the early pressure, with four shots in the match's first eight minutes, but CMU collected the game's first shot on goal from Kylie Wells ended up a long, dribbling run with a floating 25-yard shot that was collected by Mines goalkeeper Allie Lundgren, making her first start of the season.

Much of the first half was a defensive struggle with the midfielders in particular battling one another for possession. Mines had a sustained period of pressure with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half, as Wieczorek made her first save on a 33^rd-minute shot from Kaitlyn Manalili cutting inside from the left wing. Wieczorek saved a one-hopper that bounced straight into her chest from Laura Butler in the 34^th before Butler fired high in the 35^th minute.

The Orediggers outshot CMU 12-3 in the first half and held a 21-4 shots advantage after 90 minutes but couldn't direct many of their chances goalwards, as Wieczorek made two saves in each half. Despite seven goals being scored across Mines and CMU's previous two meetings, this match went to overtime still tied at 0-0.

The two teams packed 90 minutes worth of drama into the two 10-minute extra periods. Mines continued to pressure the Maverick goal, but Wieczorek made a 94^th-minute save of an Ava Harman and watched 2022 RMAC Freshman of the Year Afton Rasco rattle the near post with a shot from just a few yards away in the 103^rd minute. A game which got progressively more physical as the defenses continued to match wits saw an explosion of three overtime yellow cards after none were issued in regulation.

Like they had for much of the overtime period, Mines seemed to have all the forward momentum, forcing Wieczorek's sixth save on a low shot to the near post from Cloey Seltzer in the 105^th minute and advancing the ball up the pitch again with four consecutive throw-ins over a one-minute span. Then, in a flash, everything changed.

As Mines was throwing bodies forward, a clearance from the CMU back line found the foot of Randel, who alertly passed it forward to Adessa Correa and continued her run. Suddenly, the Mavs were on a 2-on-2 breakaway, and Correa redirected the ball back towards Randel with her first touch to play CMU's leading scorer in on goal. Randel kept her composure by hitting the ball high over an outrushing Lundgren, who finished the day with just one save, and the ball tucked into the right side netting for Randel's 15^th of the season.

There is no golden goal in NCAA Tournament soccer, however, so Colorado Mesa still had to see out the remaining three minutes and 24 seconds. Wieczorek made another save on a long-distance effort from Seltzer before Mines was gifted a free kick from just outside the penalty box with just over 30 seconds to play. 2023 RMAC Player of the Year Reese McDermott took the free kick and placed the ball just wide, and the Mavericks were able to pin the ensuing goal kick far enough up the field to set off delirious celebrations from the visiting end.

Colorado School of Mines sees its season end at 15-4-3 with back-to-back losses to CMU. The Mavericks are now 18-3-1, breaking a tie with the 1997 and 1998 teams for the most wins in a season in Maverick history.

Those two rosters were the only previous CMU teams to win a game in the NCAA Tournament, which at the time was only 16 teams as Colorado Mesa made back-to-back NCAA quarterfinal appearances with their first-round wins. This year's Maverick team is now the first CMU squad to win multiple NCAA Tournament games and can become the third team in program history to reach the NCAA quarterfinals with a win on November 30.