(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (9-5-0/7-2-0 PacWest) looks to keep the momentum going this weekend as the Trailblazers host two Pacific West Conference matches to close out the month of October. DSU will welcome in Dominican University (6-5-4/5-3-2 PacWest) this Saturday for a match that will be played at nearby Dixie High School beginning at 7 p.m. Then on Halloween Monday the Trailblazers play host Notre Dame de Namur (4-8-2/2-6-1 PacWest) at Legend Solar Stadium at 3:30 p.m.
    DSU enters the week riding a season-high seven-game winning streak and remains in third place in the PacWest standings after beginning its final regular-season homestand with a 2-0 victory vs. Academy of Art this past Saturday night.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State enters Saturday's match vs. Dominican with a 5-4-0 record and has won two of the last three meetings with the Penguins overall, though DUC claimed the last match between the two sides last season (2-1; 10/2/15) in San Rafael, Calif.
    DSU is 6-4-0 all-time vs. NDNU and has won the last two matches in the series, including a 3-2 road victory last season in Belmont, Calif. (10/15/15), and a 4-0 result the last time the two teams met in St. George (10/16/14).

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 36-24-3 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 and current men's interim head coach Nyle Ortiz.

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 winning streak to a season-high seven matches as the Trailblazer posted a 2-0 triumph vs. Academy of Art last Saturday night at Legend Solar Stadium. DSU scored both goals in the first half as freshman forward Kamie Hunter (Hooper, Utah/Fremont HS) netted her first collegiate goal at the 21:23 mark of the match to stake the Trailblazers to a 1-0 lead. Then junior forward Darian McCloy (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) got into the act with her PacWest-leading 11th goal of the year nearly 15 minutes later, while the Trailblazer defense held the Urban Knights to just two total shot attempts for the match.

QUICK KICKS: Seven of Dixie State's nine victories on the season have come via shutout, including three-straight and four of the last five wins overall ... McCloy has scored a goal in eight of her last 12 matches and has 11 (t-fifth on DSU's single-season list) of DSU's 23 goals on the year ... four of McCloy's 11 goals in this season have been game winners ... McCloy's hat trick at HPU (10/10) 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 (3G, 1A) 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 11 of DSU's last 17 matches overall, including the final three matches of the 2015 campaign, and the Trailblazers are 15-3-0 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 (22) list, t-fourth in career assists (6), and fifth all-time in points (50)
    Senior MF Megan Spencer (Provo, Utah/Springville HS) scored three goals on DSU's Hawai'i road trip, including her first multi-goal match of the season with a pair of first-half goals in the finale at Chaminade (10/15), while she also tallied a goal in the HPU (10/10) match  ... Spencer now has 14 career goals, which is good for solo ninth on DSU's career goals scored list, and she is ranked 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 (10/8) and at Hawai'i Hilo (10/13) ... in addition, junior defenders Montana Tanner and Shelby Christensen (Bountiful, Utah/Woods Cross HS) each tallied their first collegiate goals on DSU's Hawaiian road swing.
    Dixie State's defense has surrendered just 13 goals through 14 matches this season, while the GK tandem of senior Angelica Ciucci (Stockholm, Sweden/Thorildsplans Gymnasium) (1.10 GAA) and freshman Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) (0.50 GAA) has combined for a team 0.93 GAA entering play this week ... Dixie State is averaging 14.2 shots/7.4 SOG per outing, while the defense has limited the opposition to 8.1 shots/4.1 SOG.

UP NEXT: Dixie State wraps up the 2016 regular season next weekend at home against Concordia-Irvine on Thursday, Nov. 3, followed by a date vs California Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 5. The CBU match will also serve as "Senior Day" as seven DSU seniors will be honored prior to the match.