(MATCH NOTES)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (8-5-0/6-2-0 PacWest) opens a five-match homestand to finish out the 2016 regular season this Homecoming Saturday as the Trailblazers welcome in Academy of Art (1-10-1/1-5-1 PacWest) to Legend Solar Stadium beginning at 8 p.m. DSU enters Saturday's match riding a six-match winning streak after having swept all four games of its Hawaiian road swing last week. Meanwhile, the Urban Knights will play a conference match at Fresno Pacific on Wednesday prior to their arrival to St. George. 

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: DSU will look to remain perfect against Academy of Art as the Trailblazers are 10-0-0 all-time vs. the Urban Knights on the pitch, which includes a 3-0 win two years ago at Legend Solar Stadium, and a 4-2 triumph last season in San Francisco.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Kacey Bingham (Arizona State, 2006) is in her fourth season on the Trailblazers bench as Dixie State enters its second decade of NCAA competition. Bingham has compiled a 35-24-3 overall record at DSU, including a 30-14-1 mark in Pacific West Conference play. Last season Bingham led DSU to an 11-6-0 overall record, the most wins in her brief tenure as head coach, which included a 9-4-0 PacWest mark and a fourth-place league finish.
    Bingham is joined on the sideline by fourth-year assistant Rielee Reed, third-year assistant Abby Johnson and former DSU men's soccer player Nyle Ortiz, who is assisting both the DSU men's and women's programs.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED FIFTH IN PACWEST: Dixie State was picked to finish fifth in the annual Pacific West Conference preseason coaches' poll released on August 18. Azusa Pacific and defending champion Point Loma each collected six first-place votes, but APU edged PLNU by two points, 184-182, to claim the top spot on the poll. Concordia University Irvine was tabbed for third place with 162 points, while California Baptist received one first place vote to finish fourth with 157 points, followed by DSU (141 points) in fifth, Fresno Pacific (125) in sixth and Hawai'i Pacific (108) in seventh to round out the top-half of the poll.
    Dixie State did not land a player on the PacWest preseason team or on either of the preseason position player of the year lists.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State extended its season-high winning streak to six matches as the Trailblazer won all four games on their Hawaiian road trip last week. DSU combined to outscore its four opponents by an 12-1 count, beginning with a 1-0 result at BYU-Hawaii Oct. 8. Dixie State then posted a 4-1 win at Hawai'i Pacific (Oct. 10), followed by a 2-0 triumph at Hawai'i Hilo (Oct. 13), before closing the trip with a 5-0 victory at Chaminade Oct. 15.

McCLOY AND CIUCCI EARN PACWEST WEEKLY HONORS: On the heels of its four-match Hawaiian road sweep, Dixie State picked up two PacWest weekly awards on Monday. Junior forward Darian McCloy (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) was named the conference's Player of the Week, while senior goalkeeper Angelica Ciucci (Stockholm, Sweden/Thorildsplans Gymnasium) was selected as the league's Defender of the Week.
    McCloy earned her second conference offensive award in three weeks after she tallied nine points on four goals and one assist in three games last week. She had her boot on all four goals in DSU's 4-1 at Hawai'i Pacific (10/10), including her first collegiate hat trick to go with one assist. McCloy then closed the trip with her PacWest-leading 10th goal of the year in the Trailblazers' 5-0 win at Chaminade last Saturday. McCloy also leads the PacWest in points (22) and is ranked in the top-30 nationally in goals per game (20th; 0.79) and in points per game (29th; 1.71).
    Ciucci (5-6; Stockholm, Sweden/Thorildsplans Gymnasium) earned all three wins and recorded 180 shutout minutes in goal. She made two saves against both HPU and Chaminade, playing in the first half of both matches, and earned a solo shutout win with three more saves against Hawai'i Hilo last Thursday. Ciucci has not allowed a goal in her last 235 minutes of game action with 14 total saves.

QUICK KICKS: Six of Dixie State's eight victories on the season have come via shutout, including three of the four wins on the Islands last week ... McCloy has scored a goal in seven of her last 11 matches overall and has 10 of DSU's 21 goals on the year, while four of McCloy's 10 goals in this season have been game winners ... McCloy's hat trick at HPU was the 11th in Dixie State's NCAA Division II era and is the first one recorded since former DSU player Jennifer Mason achieved the feat at Chaminade on Oct. 6, 2014 ... McCloy's seven points in the HPU match tied her for the third-most in DSU's NCAA era and she is the first player to score at least seven points in a match since Mason did it at Notre Dame de Namur back in the 2012 season (9/15/12) ... dating back to last season, McCloy has scored a goal in 10 of DSU's last 16 matches overall, including the final three matches of the 2015 campaign, and the Trailblazers are 14-3-0 all-time when McCloy scores at least one goal in her two-plus seasons in a DSU kit ... McCloy's current stretch has vaulted her into solo fourth on DSU's career goals (21) list, t-fourth in career assists (6), and fifth all-time in points (48)
    Senior MF Megan Spencer (Provo, Utah/Springville HS) scored three goals in Hawai'i, including her first multi-goal match of the season with a pair of first-half goals in the finale at Chaminade, while she also tallied a goal in the HPU match  ... Spencer now has 14 career goals, which is good for solo ninth on DSU's career goals scored list, and she is eighth all-time with 36 career points ... senior midfielder Alexis Torres (Tucson, Ariz./Palo Verde HS) also tallied three goals on the trip, including two game-winning goals in the opener at BYU-H and at Hawai'i Hilo ... in addition, junior defenders Montana Tanner and Shelby Christensen (Bountiful, Utah/Woods Cross HS) each tallied their first collegiate goals during last week's play ... entering this week's match, Dixie State is averaging 13.7 shots/7.1 SOG per outing.

UP NEXT: Dixie State continues its homestand next Saturday, Oct. 29, vs. Dominican beginning at 7 p.m., at nearby Dixie High School.