DURANGO, Colo.  The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season comes to a close Wednesday afternoon for Western Colorado soccer, and the Mountaineers have their postseason fate in their own hands as a win at Fort Lewis College would guarantee a spot in the league's upcoming tournament that begins Friday.

Western enters the game in ninth place in the RMAC with 12 points from a 3-5-3 league record, while Fort Lewis (4-4-3) is seventh with 15 points. A Mountaineer win would tie the two teams in the standings with Western earning the tiebreaker via head-to-head competition.

Another aspect that would factor in is the result of Regis University's Wednesday game against Black Hills State. If Regis (4-5-2), with 14 points, wins that game – and going with a Mountaineer victory over Fort Lewis – the Rangers would increase their point total to 17 and earn the No. 7 seed leaving Western at No. 8 and traveling to Regis for Friday's opening round game.

Should Regis and Black Hills State tie, Regis would also finish with 15 points and Western would also win that tiebreaker on its head-to-head win over the Rangers.

The bottom line is, if the Mountaineers defeat Fort Lewis, they will qualify for the RMAC playoffs and whether they are the No. 7 seed and host the 7 vs. 8 game on Friday or travel as the No. 8 seed will be determined in South Dakota at Black Hills State.

WESTERN COLORADO HEADING INTO THE MATCH | 2024 Stats

• The Mountaineers earned their position of competing for a playoff berth by playing to a 1-1 draw against host Colorado Christian in their most recent match.
• The Cougars ended what had been a scoreless draw with a goal at the 83:08 mark of the game. But 50 seconds later Western's Jordan Welsh had an opportunity in the box but was sandwich by the CCU goalkeeper and a defender, drawing a penalty kick opportunity.
• Natsuki Murakami was the player on the field chosen to take the PK and she delivered, drilling a shot into the lower right corner for the equalizer.
• The draw with CCU gave Western one point in the standings, pushing its total to 12 and now in position to play its way into the RMAC playoffs.
• Fort Lewis has had the advantage over Western throughout the series history, carrying a 9-2-3 record against the Mountaineers into Wednesday's game. However, last year and in 2021 the Skyhawks escaped with 1-0 wins, and the 2022 match in Durango ended in a 1-1 draw.
• Western's last win over the Skyhawks was a 1-0 victory in September 2017.

FORT LEWIS COMING INTO THE GAME | 2024 Stats

• At 7-5-4 overall and 4-4-3 in the RMAC, the Skyhawks have not won a match since a 4-0 home win Oct. 25 over Black Hills State.
• Since then, they've tied Regis (1-1), lost to Colorado Christian (2-0) and tied MSU Denver (0-0).
• Prior to a recent scoring drought, the Skyhawks were ringing up goals. This season they've scored four goals in two wins and three goals in four more victories. They put together a four-game stretch in which they accumulated 13 goals while surrendering just 3, so the Fort Lewis attack can be dangerous.
• Abila Tapia leads the attack with five goals and two assists for 12 points on the season. She has netted one game-winning goal, as has also Abigail Nkrumah, who has scored three goals and added two assists for eight points, trailing on Tapia.
• Fort Lewis has played two goalkeepers almost equally this season, each getting eight starts. Katlyn Rosenbaum (5-3-2) has a 1.17 goals-against average and 32 saves, while Riley Bravin (2-2-2) has a 1.43 GAA and, too, has made 32 saves.

UP NEXT
A win by Western Colorado extends its season to at least Friday, when it would either host or travel to play in a 7 vs. 8-seed opening-round match.