WEEK 8 WSOC GAME NOTES
 

DSU set for tough road matchups in California: The Dixie State women's soccer team puts its three-match winning streak on the line when it travels this week to Southern California for PacWest meetings with Azusa Pacific and Point Loma. DSU plays the Cougars on Thursday, Oct. 23 and then drives down the coast to play league unbeaten PLNU on Saturday, Oct. 25. Both matches will have live streaming and live stat links available on DixieAthletics.com.

Last week in Storm soccer: Dixie State won both matches at Hansen Stadium by the same score, 4-0. Erica Gonzalez (Avondale, AZ/Westview) scored in the 6th minute on Thursday against Notre Dame de Namur while Jennifer Mason (Springville, UT/Springville) had a hand in a trio of second half goals; with an assist on a Darian McCloy (Herriman, UT/Herriman) shot and two goals within a 10-minute span. Stacie Gubler (Las Vegas, NV/Palo Verde) earned her first solo shutout of the year. On Saturday, Mason sparked the Dixie State goal scoring with the first two tallies against Holy Names. She then assisted on a Kaisa Rogers (Springville, UT/Springville) goal to give DSU a 3-0 halftime lead. Tana Singley (Farmington, UT/Viewmont) scored her first goal of the year to round out the scoring in the second half. Gubler and Angie Ciucci (Stockholm, Sweden/Thorildsplans Gymnasium) combined for the Storm's clean sheet. 

Mason named PacWest's best for a third time: Jennifer Mason (Springville, UT/Springville) earned back-to-back Pacific West Conference Player of the Week honors as announced Monday to become the first three-time award winner in the league this year. Mason put up high scoring numbers as Dixie State ran its winning streak to three games with a pair of wins against Bay Area teams. She recorded two goals and assist in each Red Storm 4-0 win over Holy Names and NDNU. She leads the PacWest in points (27), goals (11) and assists (5). 

A look at Azusa Pacific, Point Loma: Azusa Pacific (6-6-1, 4-2-1) is riding a four-match winning streak heading into this week's action. The Cougars outscored opponents last week 8-0 with wins over Holy Names (3-0) and NDNU (5-0). Mayra Almazan, who shared the PacWest Player of the Week award with Mason, had three goals and two assists for the week. PacWest Freshman of the Week Zoey Bauman has not allowed a goal in 489 minutes and has five shutouts in net. The Cougars have the second stingiest defense this year allowing 0.85 goals per game to opponents. Dixie State is winless in three matches all-time against APU including a 3-0 defeat in Azusa back in 2012. Point Loma enters the week unbeaten in PacWest play with an 8-0 league record. The Sea Lions are 9-2 overall after two wins over Bay Area schools last week at home – 1-0 over Dominican and 2-0 over ART U. Including five straight shutouts, Point Loma has the league's best opponent scoring average at 0.45 goals per game. Goalkeeper Ariel Oriarte has not allowed a goal in 474 minutes. The Storm are 2-0 all-time against the Sea Lions after Jen Mason netted the equalizer and game-winner in overtime last year in a 3-2 win at Hansen.

Home for the final three: DSU last three matches are scheduled at home. On the schedule next week, the Storm hosts Dominican on Thursday, Oct 30 and Academy of Art on Saturday, Nov. 1.

Year two: Kacey Bingham is in her second season as head coach. Prior to DSU, she led Paradise Valley (Ariz.) Community College to the NJCAA National Championship in 2012.