(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (6-5-0/2-5-0 RMAC) enters a stretch that will see the Trailblazers play four of their final six regular season matches at home, beginning this weekend with a pair of matches at Trailblazer Stadium. DSU opens the weekend Friday night vs. Adams State (2-9-0/1-6-0 RMAC) beginning at 7 p.m., and will take on Fort Lewis in a Sunday matinee starting at 12 noon.
    Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Friday's match vs. Adams State will be only the second meeting between the Trailblazers and Grizzlies on the soccer pitch. Nearly 12 years to the day of this Friday's match, Dixie State posted a 3-0 result over ASU on the road in Alamosa (10/11/06) during DSU's first year of NCAA competition.
    Meanwhile, the Trailblazers enter this Sunday's tilt vs. FLC looking for their first-ever win vs. the Skyhawks. Fort Lewis has won each of the past three meetings, including a 1-0 win in its lone match played in St. George (10/1/07), and the last match between the two sides on a neutral pitch during the 2011 season (3-1; 9/10/11).

COACHING STAFF: Gerry Lucey (LIU Post, 1994; 6-5-0 at Dixie State; 159-54-21 overall record) is in his first season as Dixie State head coach. Prior to his arrival at DSU, Lucey collected 153 victories over 10 seasons as a head coach at three NCAA Division II women's soccer programs, which included eight NCAA tournament appearances, three NCAA regional championships, and one NCAA Division II national championship won during his tenure at the University of Tampa in 2007.  
    Lucey is joined on the Trailblazer sideline by first year assistant coaches Freddy Delgado (Regis, 1997), and former Dixie State soccer standouts Laura Evans (Dixie State, 2007) and Juli Nield (Dixie State, 2006).

NKOTB: After 11 years as a member of the Pacific West Conference, Dixie State embarks on its first season as full members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 2018.
    The Trailblazers won one PacWest soccer title (2009) over their conference membership and posted a 92-44-5 overall record (.670) in 141 league games. DSU won nine or more PacWest matches in six of those 11 campaigns, including a program-best 13 matches (13-1-0) during its championship run in 2009.

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.
    Colorado-Colorado Springs collected 11 of a possible 14 first-place votes to claim the top spot in the poll with 163 points, while 2017 league runner-up Colorado School of Mines tallied two first-place nods and 153 points to squeak past defending champion Regis, which secured one first place vote and 152 points.
    MSU Denver claimed the fourth spot with 118 points, followed closely by DSU (117 pts) in fifth, Colorado State-Pueblo (115) in sixth, and Colorado Mesa (91 pts) claimed the seventh spot to round out the top-half of the 14-team poll.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State saw its losing skid reach three-straight matches after a pair of tough road losses over the weekend in Colorado. The Trailblazers opened the trip with a 2-0 setback at Colorado Christian in Lakewood last Friday, which was followed by a hard-fought 1-0 loss at RMAC leader and current No. 4 Colorado School of Mines this past Sunday in Golden.

CLEAN SHEETS: Dixie State has posted shutout results in 10 of its 11 matches to this point of the 2018 season, including a school-record eight-straight matches to begin the year after a 1-0 victory over then No. 13 MSU Denver on Sept. 28. The lone match that saw both teams find the back of the net came in a 2-1 DSU home loss to current No. 16 UCCS on Sept. 30.
    All six Trailblazer wins this season have come via shutout, including four ShO wins to open the campaign. Prior to this year's eight-match stretch, Dixie State posted a pair of seven-game ShO streaks in 2013 (3-3-1) and 2014 (5-2-0).
    Overall, the Trailblazers have played to a 77-47-3 (.618) record in 127 total shutout results in their NCAA era, including a program-best 7-1-0 mark in 2009 and a 7-2-0 record last season. DSU also won a program-best eight matches via shutout (8-3-0) in 2007.

2018 TEAM NOTES: Freshman Victoria Bravo (Las Vegas, Nev./Silverado HS) made her first collegiate goal a memorable one as she netted the GWG in the MSUD win (9/28) ... Bravo headed home a corner kick from junior Kilee Lamb-Allsop (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) at the 37:01 mark of the opening half ... Lamb-Allsop had her boot on both DSU's scores over the brief homestand as she collected her team-high third assist on sophomore Ambree Bennett's (South Jordan, Utah/Herriman HS) goal vs. UCCS (9/30) ... two of Bennett's three goals on year have been game-winners (at CSUSM and at BHSU) ... freshman forward Whitley Johns (Gilbert, Ariz./Campo Verde HS) continues to lead the team in goals scored (4) and points (9), including becoming the first player in the program's NCAA era to score in the first three games of a season, and she is just the eighth player to score at least one goal in at least three-straight matches overall.
    Sophomore Kelsey Cook (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) posted her first career two-goal match in the win at BHSU (9/23) ... Cook, who has three goals and one assist on the year, scored the final two DSU goals (25', 52') in the win ... Lamb-Allsop, along with a stout Blazer defensive unit anchored by senior Nichole Mertz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) and juniors Alexa Ashton (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) and Kamie Hunter (Hooper, Utah/Fremont HS), have combined to limit DSU opponents to just seven goals and 36 SOG (96 total shot attempts) through 11 matches this season.
    Junior netminder Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) moved into a tie atop DSU's career shutouts list with her ninth clean sheet in DSU's win over MSUD (9/28) ... Tarr, who is DSU's career GAA leader (0.86), also collected her 18th-career win in goal (#2 all-time at DSU) and now stands five wins shy of becoming DSU's career leader in GK victories ... Tarr (103 saves) also made seven combined saves last weekend, including six stops in the loss at CSM, and in the process became the fourth DSU goalkeeper in program history to collect 100-plus career saves ... junior GK Nicole Rahman (Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) earned three victories in goal in her first three career starts as netminder, including ShO wins at CSU San Bernardino, at CSU San Marcos (combined ShO) and at CSULA (combined ShO).
    Overall, Dixie State's defense is second in the RMAC and is ranked 36th nationally in GAA at 0.636.

UP NEXT: Dixie State closes the road portion of its 2018 regular season schedule next weekend with a match at New Mexico Highlands on Friday, Oct. 19, followed by the road finale at Colorado State-Pueblo on Sunday, Oct. 21.