Although revenge is a dish best served cold, rain probably wasn’t in the original recipe.

On Sept. 14, the Colorado School of Mines women’s soccer team avenged last year’s NCAA Division II tournament loss to Western Washington by toppling the reigning national champions 2-0.

Junior forward Reese McDermott scored the two goals early in the first half, and the No. 2 Orediggers advanced to 4-0-1 ahead of their Sept. 16 home game against Seattle Pacific.

Despite heavy rains throughout most of the Sept. 14 home game, almost 200 dedicated Mines fans came prepared with umbrellas and rain ponchos. A lightning delay pushed back the 7 p.m. start time, and puddles on the field had to be squeegeed off at halftime.

The weather made for an unpredictable but fun game, Mines players said afterward.

Western Washington, the reigning national champions and preseason No. 1 team, knocked off Mines in the NCAA Division II tournament quarterfinals 3-1 last November, ending the Orediggers’ season earlier than they’d hoped.

“It felt really good to get that game back,” sophomore forward Afton Rasco said after the Sept. 14 win. “A lot of us were disappointed with how our season ended last year, but it also just makes us excited to keep going forward.”

McDermott and senior midfielder Landry Corbett described how the biggest thing going into the game was not letting the weather impact their play and maintaining their “ready to compete” mentality. McDermott compared it to the Sept. 10 home game against No. 3 Dallas Baptist, where the Orediggers came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie in the second half.

Corbett added: “We all kind of, not expected to beat (Western Washington), but we knew we could. So, we just had to prove it to ourselves. … I think we did a really great job of working as a team and communicating, and not letting (the weather) affect us.”

Even amid the heavy rain, the Orediggers had red-hot chemistry on the field.

About five minutes in, Corbett received the ball around the midfield and saw McDermott running toward the goal. Corbett played it over the top, right into her teammate’s path. With the ball at her feet, McDermott took the opening, and the ball found the back of the net.

In the 13th minute, McDermott scored again, this time assisted by Rasco.

Rasco had it on the left side, close to the top of the box. She turned, beat a defender, and “chipped it beautifully right through (the Vikings’) defense,” McDermott recalled.

The junior forward saw her opening and gave the ball a single touch that bounced off the right post and into the goal.

Otherwise, the game was relatively defensive with a combined six shots on goal between the teams. Western Washington put up seven total shots and had three corners.

While Mines didn’t have any corners, the players racked up 11 total shots with four shots on goal. Additionally, freshman goalkeeper Keira Garcia started her first game and played all 90 minutes with two saves.

While McDermott said the Sept. 14 home win was “sweet revenge,” she added that the Orediggers won’t be fully satisfied until they win a national championship of their own.

The reigning RMAC regular-season and tournament champions are only a third of the way through their regular-season schedule, and will kick off their conference slate Sept. 21 at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.

Rasco said that, while she’s taking things one game at a time, she believed this year’s squad has “really great chemistry.” McDermott agreed, saying it’s just as good as last year’s, if not better.

The Orediggers have eight newcomers — six freshmen and two transfer students — and eight seniors playing their final season, including Corbett.

Rasco, McDermott and Corbett all said the players are doing a great job of pushing each other, and everyone’s committed to building on last season’s successes.

“Now we’re hungry; now we want more,” Corbett continued. “We want to keep going and do the best we can.”