(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (2-0-0/0-0-0 PacWest) continues its four-game road swing to begin the 2017 season this week as the Trailblazers travel to Rohnert Park, Calif., for a pair of non-conference matches. DSU begins the trip Thursday afternoon against No. 18 Sonoma State (2-0-0) at 5 p.m. (PT), followed with a neutral site match against Southern Oregon (3-1-0) Saturday morning at 11 a.m. (PT). Both matches will be played on the Seawolf Soccer Field on the SSU campus
          Live stats information for both matches can be found here (STATS / VIDEO).

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State opened the 2017 campaign a positive note as the Trailblazers collected a pair of shutout victories last weekend in Nampa, Idaho. Senior forward Darian Murdock (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) recorded her second-career hat trick to lead DSU to a 3-0 win over Western State Colorado (8/31). Then two days later against homestanding Northwest Nazarene (9/1), freshmen Brooklyn Vogelsberg (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) and Tori Page (Centerville, Utah/Viewmont HS) tallied second half goals, while the DSU defense held NNU to just two total shot attempts, in a 2-0 road triumph.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: The Trailblazers enter Thursday's match looking for their first-ever win vs. Sonoma State as the Seawolves have won the previous two meetings in the series, both of which have come in St. George. Sonoma State won the first-ever meeting by a 2-1 count back in 2012 (9/1/12), and claimed a 3-1 result last season at Legend Solar Stadium (9/10/16).
          Saturday's match vs. Southern Oregon marks the first time the Trailblazers and Raiders will meet on the pitch.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Kacey Bingham (Arizona State, 2006) is in her fifth season on the Trailblazers sidelines. Bingham has compiled a 41-27-3 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.

MURDOCK AND PAGE PICK UP PACWEST WEEKLY HONORS: After opening the 2017 regular season with two shutout victories, Dixie State picked up two PacWest weekly awards on Monday. Senior forward Darian Murdock (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS) was named PacWest Player of the Week, while forward Tori Page (Centerville, Utah/Viewmont HS) was selected as the league's Freshman of the Week.
          Murdock picked up right where she left off in 2016 as she netted her second-career hat trick in DSU's 3-0 triumph over Western State Colorado last Thursday. Murdock wasted little time getting her senior season going as she found the back of the net just 3:05 into the match, then tacked on another first-half tally before adding her third goal of the game with five minutes left to play. She fired eight shots overall in the WSCU match, all of which were on frame.  
          Page collected her first collegiate points with a goal and an assist in the second half of DSU's 2-0 win at Northwest Nazarene this past Saturday. She assisted on the DSU's game-winning goal on a ball played into fellow freshman Brooklyn Vogelsberg (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) in the 63rd minute, then found the back of the net herself eight minutes later on a header to salt the match away.

QUICK KICKS: Dixie State played in its 200th NCAA match in last Saturday's tilt at Northwest Nazarene, and with the win improved to 114-74-12 (.600) all-time in NCAA competition ... 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 last week ... In 2006, DSU began its first season of NCAA play with three-straight shutout wins vs. Westminster College (2-0), 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.
          Murdock's hat trick in the opener vs. WSCU 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 pulled into a tie with Stratford for third on DSU's career goals scored list (26), while her first goal vs. WSCU was her eighth-career game-winning goal, leaving her needing two more to pass Wilkes for third on DSU's career GWG list ... Murdock also set a school single-match record with eight shots on goal in the WSCU game ... senior forward Tana Singley (Farmington, Utah/Viewmont HS) collected assists in both matches last week, while freshman defender Jill Bennett (Salt Lake City, Utah/East HS) recorded her first two collegiate points with assists on two of Murdock's three goals vs. WSCU.
          DSU's defense held WSCU and NNU to a combined six total shot attempts last week, including just four shots on goal ... sophomore netminder Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) (2-0-0) stopped all four shots she faced en route to her second and third career ShO wins, which moved her into sixth-place on DSU's career ShO list.

UP NEXT: Dixie State kicks off its 2017 home slate with a five-match homestand, beginning with a non-conference tilt vs. in-state foe Westminster College on Friday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m.