(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (3-1-0/0-0-0 PacWest) kicks off its 2017 home slate with a five-match homestand, beginning with a non-conference tilt vs. in-state foe Westminster College (3-1-0) on the pitch at Legend Solar Stadium this Friday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m. Live stats/video information for the can be found HERE.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State closed the road portion of its 2017 season last weekend with a split of two matches in Rohnert Park, Calif. The Trailblazers opened the trip with a hard-fought 1-0 loss at then-No. 18 Sonoma State last Thursday in a match that saw the home side net the game's lone goal with just 1:07 remaining in regulation time.
          DSU then rebounded for a decisive 4-0 result vs. Southern Oregon this past Saturday. Senior Gina Tedrow (San Diego, Calif./Mission Hills HS) scored her first-career game-winning goal and assisted on another score, while senior Darian Murdock (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) netted her fourth goal of the year as the Trailblazers blitzed the Raiders with four second-half goals after a scoreless opening 45 minutes of action.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State is 3-0-0 all-time in its series vs. Westminster College and has posted shutout wins in all three meetings, including a 1-0 result last season in Salt Lake City (9/13). The two sides also met twice in the 2006, the first time coming in Dixie State first-ever NCAA match, a 5-0 DSU triumph in Salt Lake City (8/26). The Trailblazers also posted a 9-0 home win (10/28) to close out that first season.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Kacey Bingham (Arizona State, 2006) is in her fifth season on the Trailblazers sidelines. Bingham has compiled a 42-28-3 overall record at DSU, including a 33-16-1 mark in Pacific West Conference play. Last season Bingham led DSU to an 11-7-0 overall record (9-4-0 PacWest/T3rd), which tied for the most wins in her brief tenure as head coach, and marked the third-straight season DSU had won 10 or more matches overall.
          Bingham is joined on the sideline by fourth-year assistant coach Abby Johnson, along with first-year assistants Erin Dierickx and Bryce Ross.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED FIFTH IN PACWEST: Heading into its final season of Pacific West Conference play, Dixie State was picked to finish fifth in the league's annual women's soccer preseason coaches' poll released on Aug. 15.
          Defending PacWest champion Azusa Pacific was the overwhelming choice to repeat as the Cougars received 10 out of a possible 14 first-place votes in topping the poll with 189 points. California Baptist, which is also in its final season of PacWest membership before its move to the NCAA Division I ranks, placed second in the poll with 169 points.
          Concordia-Irvine received one of the other four first place votes to finish third in the poll with 160 points, followed in fourth by Point Loma, which collected three first place nods and 152 points. DSU (144) checked in fifth, while PacWest newcomer Biola (114 points) and Fresno Pacific (113 points) rounded out the top-half of the poll in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
          Dixie State did land a major preseason award as senior forward Darian Murdock (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) was voted 2017 PacWest Preseason Player of the Year and garnered preseason all-conference honors.

QUICK KICKS: Along with Tedrow collecting her first collegiate points and Murdock's team-leading fourth goal of the year, freshmen Tori Page (Centerville, Utah/Viewmont HS) and Brooklyn Vogelsberg (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) also got into the act as the duo each scored their second goals of the season ... Page's goal came less than five minutes after the Murdock score, while Vogelsberg capped the Trailblazers' four-goal barrage with 1:05 left in regulation.
          Sophomore Alexa Estridge (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) assisted on two of DSU's four goals in the SOU match, while junior Jessica Ogilvie (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) was credited with her second assist of the year on the Tedrow GWG, and senior Shelby Christensen (Bountiful, Utah/Woods Cross HS) picked up a dime on the Vogelsberg goal ... Estridge's second assist was DSU's 300th assist in the program's NCAA D-II era (202 games) ... DSU attempted a season-high 26 shots in the SOU match as 15 different Trailblazers took at least one shot, which included 12 different players credited with a SOG (13 total).
          Murdock recorded her second career hat trick in the opener vs. WSCU, which moved her into even more exclusive company as she became just the third DSU player to score at least three goals in a match on multiple occasions ... former DSU player Jennifer Mason (2011-14) achieved the feat a program-best four times in her four-year career, while Mikayla Wilkes (2006-09) posted a pair of four-goal games and had a three-goal match to her credit in her four seasons in a DSU kit ... In all, six players in the program's NCAA-era have posted hat tricks, including Kaisa (Goodman) Rogers in 2012, and Erika Mouritsen and Wendy Stratford in 2008 ... Murdock also moved into solo third on DSU's career goals scored list (27) with her goal vs. Southern Oregon.
          DSU's defense allowed 24 shots vs. Sonoma State, though only seven were on frame ... DSU limited SOU to one SOG and three total shot attempts overall ... sophomore netminder Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) (2-1-0) started both matches last weekend and stopped seven of eight SOG she faced ... senior keeper Sarah Beecher (Kaysville, Utah/Davis HS) played the second half vs. SOU and saw only one shot attempt on her way to her first win in goal of the season ... entering this Friday's match, Dixie State is averaging 13.2 shots/8.2 SOG per outing.
          For the just the second time in the program's D-II era, Dixie State opened a season with back-to-back shutout wins after blanking both WSCU and NNU two weeks ago ... In 2006, DSU began its first season of NCAA play with three-straight shutout wins vs. Westminster College (5-0), Hawai'i Pacific (2-0) and Hawai'i Hilo (5-0) en route to a 4-0-0 start ... In fact, the Trailblazers have posted shutout results as their first win in 10 of 12 NCAA seasons overall ... The only two times DSU has allowed a goal while picking up its first win in a season happened in consecutive years in 2011 and 2012.

UP NEXT: Dixie State begins its final season of Pacific West Conference play next week as the Trailblazers host Chaminade on Thursday, Sept. 21, and league newcomer Biola on Saturday, Sept. 23.