(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (6-8-2/4-6-2 RMAC) will wrap up the 2018 season and its first year of RMAC membership this weekend with a pair of conference matches, beginning with the home finale on Thursday, Oct. 25, with a "Senior Day" showdown vs. in-state rival Westminster College (12-3-1/8-3-1) at Trailblazer Stadium beginning at 5 p.m. DSU will honor its four seniors, including Zach Beckman (Centerville, Utah/Viewmont HS), Dominic Damato (Las Vegas, Nev./Shadow Ridge HS), Zac McCulloch (Draper, Utah/Alta HS) and Ascari Robles (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS), along with redshirt juniors Christian Hall (Layton, Utah/Northridge HS) and Frankie Mallek (Yuma, Ariz./Kofa HS) prior to kick-off.
    DSU will then travel to Lakewood, Colo., for the season-ending match at Colorado Christian (1-13-1/1-9-1 RMAC) on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 11 a.m.
    Live stats and live video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Thursday's match vs. Westminster will be the third meeting between the two sides and the second to be played in St. George. Back in the 2013 season, the Griffins claimed a 1-0 result on DSU's home field (11/3/13), while the Trailblazers collected their first point in the series with a 1-1 draw last month in Salt Lake City (9/14/18). Westminster is led by Head Coach Josh Pittman, who served as Dixie State head coach during the 2015 season.
    Saturday's match at CCU will be the first-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Cougars on the soccer pitch.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 18-13-2 overall) is in his second season on the Trailblazer sideline after guiding DSU to a 12-win season last year, which included a fifth-place finish (8-5-0) in its final season of Pacific West Conference play. Broadhead came to DSU from Utah Valley University, where he served as a volunteer assistant coach for two years before being elevated to a full-time assistant position prior to the start of the 2016 season.
    Before his time at UVU, Broadhead served a two-year stint as assistant coach at Colorado Mesa with former DSU head coach Josh Pittman. The Mavericks went a combined 20-12-8 during his two seasons in Grand Junction, including a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament championship in 2013.
    Broadhead is joined on the sideline again this season by former DSU standout netminder Bradley Trella, who will serve as a student assistant coach and work with the goalkeepers.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED FIFTH IN THE RMAC IN 2018: Dixie State was voted to finish fifth by the RMAC coaches in the annual preseason poll released by the league on August 15.
    Defending RMAC champion Colorado School of Mines was the overwhelming choice to defend its title as the Orediggers received nine of a possible 12 first-place votes to top the poll with 118 points. Colorado Mesa claimed two first place votes to finish second with 102 points, followed by Fort Lewis (one first-place vote, 96 pts) in third, Regis (81 pts) in fourth, DSU (79 pts) in fifth, and MSU-Denver (78 pts) in sixth to round out the top-half of the 12-team poll.
    In addition, DSU's top-returning goal scorer, junior forward Moises Medina (Mesquite, Nev./Virgin Valley HS), was the Trailblazers' lone representative on the RMAC's preseason all-conference team.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Dixie State extended its winning streak to three-straight after opening its final homestand with a pair of RMAC victories at Trailblazer Stadium. The Trailblazers began the week with a hard-fought 3-2 double-OT result over Colorado State Pueblo last Friday night. DSU jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead, only to see the ThunderWolves battle back with two second-half tallies, including the tying goal with 1:30 left in regulation time. After a scoreless first OT session, junior Jandir Porta (West Valley City, Utah/Hunter HS) netted the "Golden Goal" with 3:51 left in the second OT to lift DSU to the win.
    Dixie State then closed out the week with a convincing 3-1 triumph over Adams State in a match that saw the Blazers net three first-half goals, two coming off the boot of junior Ricky Nunez (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS), while Damato collected a goal and an assist in his penultimate home match.

QUICK KICKS: Junior forward Moises Medina (Mesquite, Nev./Virgin Valley HS) (62 points) became Dixie State's career points leader when he scored his team-high fifth goal of the year midway through the second half at Colorado Mesa (10/12) ... Medina passed former DSU standout Jordan Roylance (28 goals/4 assists), who amassed 60 points during his four seasons in a Dixie State kit from 2009-12 ... Medina, who also became DSU's career assist leader (16) earlier this season vs. FLC (9/28) and broke DSU's single-season goals record last year (12), padded his assist record with his second dime of the year on Porta's GWG vs. CSU-P last Friday.
    Nunez became the fourth Trailblazer to post a two-goal match this season, joining freshmen Idris Alabi (Vail, Ariz./Cienega HS) (vs. FLC - 9/28) and Tony Foulger (Salt Lake City, Utah/Olympus HS) (vs. AAU - 9/6) and fellow junior Gustavo Ortega (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) (vs UCCS - 9/21) on the list ... Ortega also collected his third assist of the year on Damato's GWG, while Nunez converted his second PK in as many chances for the second goal vs. ASU ... freshman Daniel Brubaker (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) tallied his second goal of the year and was credited with the first-touch assist, and his fourth assist on the year overall, on Porta's GWG vs. CSU-P last Friday.
    Damato's game-winning goal (and fifth career goal) vs. Adams State last Sunday was the second GWG of his stellar four-year career, with the first coming on his first collegiate goal in a win over Dominican (10/29/16) during the 2016 season ... in addition, the ASU win also marked the first time in his collegiate career that the senior recorded a goal and an assist in the same match ... Damato's assist also vaulted him into third place on DSU's career assist list (13) and to t-sixth in career points (23).
    Freshman Dresden Quackenbush (Las Vegas, Nev. /West Career and Technical Academy) netted his first collegiate goal to open the scoring in the CSU-P match, while Robles recorded his second assist of the year on Brubaker's goal later in the first half vs. the ThunderWolves.
    Speaking of assists, junior goalkeeper Zach Nielson (West Point, Utah/Northridge HS) picked up his first career helper on Alabi's final goal vs. FLC (9/28) when his punt took a high hop over the Skyhawk defense, which set up an Alabi breakaway chance ... Nielson's assist was the first dime recorded by a keeper since former keeper and DSU assistant coach Bradley Trella was credited with an assist in DSU's 2-0 home win over Hawai'i Hilo (10/10/15) during the 2015 season ... Nielson (124 saves) recorded a career-high eight saves in the loss at Colorado School of Mines (10/5) and in the process became the third DSU goalkeeper in program history to collect 100-plus career saves ... Nielson also collected his 20th-career win in goal in DSU's 3-1 result vs. ASU last Sunday, which pulled him into a tie for second place on DSU's career wins list with Trella.