(Game Notes - PDF)Dixie State will look to return to its winning ways this weekend as the Storm travels back to northern California for a pair of key Pacific West Conference road games. DSU (2-4-0/0-2-0 PacWest) opens the trip on Friday, Oct. 2, with a match at Dominican University (1-5-1/1-1-0 PacWest) in San Rafael at 4 p.m. (PT), and will close the trip on Sunday, Oct. 4, with a late morning tilt at Holy Names (2-4-0/0-2-0 PacWest) in Oakland at 11 a.m. (PT). Live stats information for both matches can be found at
www.dixieathletics.com.
DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State owns a 5-3-0 series lead vs. Dominican and has won two-straight and three of its last four head-to-head against the Penguins. DSU is 3-0-0 all-time in its brief series with Holy Names, including a 2-1 result the last time the two teams met in Oakland.
COACHING STAFF: Head coach
Kacey Bingham (Arizona State, 2006) is in her third season on the Red Storm bench. Bingham has compiled a 19-18-3 overall record, including a 15-10-1 mark in Pacific West Conference play. Bingham is joined on the sideline by third-year assistant coach
Rielee Reed, and first year assistants
Emily Fox (Lehi, UT/Lehi), former DSU men's soccer coach
Danny Ortiz, and Nyle Ortiz.
STORM PICKED FIFTH IN PACWEST: Dixie State was selected to finish fifth in the PacWest Conference for the second consecutive year. Point Loma received 11 first-place votes to top the poll, followed by California Baptist, Azusa Pacific and Hawai'i Pacific. Fresno Pacific and Concordia came in below the Storm to round out the top half of the poll. The Storm finished the 2014 season on a three-game winning streak to end with a 10-7-1 overall record and an 8-4 mark in the PacWest.
QUICK KICKS: The Storm enters this weekend's matches looking to snap a four-game losing streak, this after opening the season with two-straight shutout victories ... DSU will also look to get its offense going as the Storm was held to just one goal and eight total shots on goal in two matches last week vs. Azusa Pacific and Point Loma ... the Storm registered six SOG and their lone goal on the homestand against APU, which broked the then-#18 Cougars' five-plus match defensive scoreless streak (408:52) to open the season ... senior forward
Jasmine Arollo (Glendale, Ariz./Apollo HS) has had her boot on four of DSU's six goals on the season ... Arollo scored her team-leading second goal of the year in the second half vs. APU ... she also assisted on the Storm's game-winning tally in the season opener at UAV, and she assisted on DSU's first goal at Chico State before scoring her first goal of the year later in that match ... Arollo leads the team in shots (16) and SOG (10), while junior defender
Alexis Torres (Tucson, Ariz./Palo Verde HS) (1 goal) and sophomore forward
Courtney Fryer (Spanish Fork, Utah/Maple Mountain HS) (2 assists) have registered seven shots apiece ... entering this weekend's matches, Dixie State is averaging 11.3 shots/3.3 SOG per match ... DSU covered a lot of real estate on its last visit to California earlier in September, which included stops in Corona, Lancaster, La Jolla, San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, Eureka, Chico and Fresno before the team finally rolled back into St. George ... in all the Storm traveled an estimated 2,480 miles over that one-week stretch.
ABOUT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dominican enters play this week at 1-5-1/1-1-0 (pending the outcome of a match Tuesday vs. Holy Names) after the Penguins picked up their first win of the season in a 3-1 home result vs. California Baptist last week ... Dominican forward Mariah Meza was named PacWest Offensive Player of the Week as she scored three goals, two vs. CBU, and put all seven of her shot attempts for the week on frame.
Holy Names begins the week with a 2-4-0/0-2-0 record (pending the outcome of a match Tuesday at Dominican) as the Hawks have split their previous two matches, including a 2-1 loss at Chico State and a 2-1 home win over CBU ... junior midfielder Courtney Okazaki has accounted for two of HNU's six goals on the season, doing so on only four SOG (eight total shots).
HEAD COACH KACEY BINGHAM ON THE STORM: "We're excited to get back at it this week. We know we need to be performing a lot better. We'll have a couple tough games to test us. We have a lot we want to prove to ourselves."
UP NEXT: Dixie State returns home to welcome a pair of Island visitors to Hansen Stadium next week. DSU opens the homestand vs. BYU-Hawai'i on Thursday, Oct. 8, followed by a match against Hawai'i Hilo on Saturday, Oct. 10. Both matches will kick off at 4:30 p.m.
