Dixie State erupted for a season-high five goals Friday afternoon as the Trailblazers breezed past New Mexico Highlands by a 5-1 count at Sanchez Stadium.

The scoring came fast and furious in the opening 15 minutes of play as the two teams combined for three early goals, two of which were scored by the Trailblazers (9-5-0/5-5-0 RMAC) as they enjoyed a 2-1 lead after one half of play. Junior Alexa Ashton (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) (1) got Dixie State on the board at the 8:02 mark when she headed in a corner kick sent into the 6-yard box by fellow junior Kilee Lamb-Allsop (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS). The goal was Ashton's second of her collegiate career, while Lamb-Allsop collected her team-leading fifth assist on the year.

DSU's lead would not last long as NMHU (1-11-1/1-8-1 RMAC) quickly struck with the equalizer just 43 seconds later on nearly the exact same type of play as Anna Medina flicked a header into the Blazer goal on a Nitza Rodriguez corner kick. Dixie State jumped back on top five minutes later when freshman Whitley Johns (Gilbert, Ariz./Campo Verde HS) scored in her third-straight match on a 12-yard blast into the upper left corner of the Cowgirl goal to give her side the one-goal advantage.

Second half was all Trailblazers as Dixie State erupted for three more goals over a 15-minute span to begin the frame to put the match away. Johns struck again in the 53^rd-minute when she tucked home a deflected shot attempt from point-blank range for her second two-goal match in as many outings.

DSU sophomore Ambree Bennett (South Jordan, Utah/Herriman HS) then tacked on two more insurance over the next seven minutes to give the Blazers a commanding four-goal lead. Bennett (5, 6) finished a ball played into the NMHU box by Jill Bennett (Salt Lake City, Utah/East HS) at the 54-minute mark, and drilled home an Ashlyn VanTussenbroek (Salt Lake City, Utah/Olympus HS) feed from 25-yards out that two-hopped past the diving Cowgirls goalkeeper into the bottom right corner of the frame.

"Happy to get a positive result against a difficult opponent," said DSU Head Coach Gerry Lucey. "We made it hard on ourselves on the first half with some sloppy decision making. We showed glimpses of quality but too few. After the break we were much better and finished off NMHU. Good to see our freshman trio of [Lauren] Buxton, [Tess] Donaldson and VanTussenbroek were excellent. We have a tough game on Sunday [at CSU-Pueblo] so we will get ready tomorrow."

The Trailblazers scored goals on five of their eight shots on goal and finished with 15 shots overall. Meanwhile, the DSU defense locked NMHU down over the final 81 minutes of play, limiting the Cowgirls to only four total shot attempts (one SOG) after allowing the early goal.

Dixie State wraps up its 2018 regular season road schedule Sunday afternoon at Colorado State-Pueblo.