(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (13-5-0/8-5-0 RMAC) travels to Golden, Colo., this weekend for the final two rounds of the 2018 RMAC Women's Soccer Tournament, hosted by top-seed No. 5 Colorado School of Mines. The No. 4-seeded Trailblazers will face the Orediggers Friday morning at 11 a.m., at the CSM Stermole Soccer Stadium.
    The DSU/Mines match will be the first of two RMAC semifinal matches on Friday, with second-seeded No. 15 Colorado-Colorado Springs playing No. 3 seed Westminster College later in the day at 4 p.m. The two semifinal winners will then advance to the RMAC Championship scheduled for this Sunday at 12 noon, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament.
    Live stats and streaming video information for Dixie State's RMAC tourney run can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE THE RMAC TOURNEY FIELD: Dixie State went winless against all of the other three RMAC semifinalists this season, though all three matches were decided by one goal (1-0 at CSM 10/7; 1-0 at Westminster 9/16; 2-1 vs. UCCS 9/30).

COACHING STAFF: Gerry Lucey (LIU Post, 1994; 13-5-0 at Dixie State; 166-54-21 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), along with former Dixie State soccer standouts Laura Evans (Dixie State, 2007) and Juli Nield (Dixie State, 2006), and Alan Berrios (Dover Business College).

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State advanced to the RMAC semifinal round on the strength of its 2-1 quarterfinal victory over No. 5 seed MSU Denver last Tuesday night at Trailblazer Stadium. The Trailblazers got a pair of first-half goals from junior Alexa Ashton and sophomore Tori Page, then held off the Roadrunners in the second half to win their first-ever RMAC tourney match.

DSU LANDS SIX ON ALL-RMAC AWARDS LIST: Dixie State placed six players on the 2018 RMAC postseason awards list, which was announced on Tuesday. Freshman forward Whitley Johns was voted RMAC Freshman of the Year and to the All-RMAC first team, while Ashton was named to the conference's second team. In addition, four more players received honorable mention recognition, including senior Nichole Mertz, junior Kilee Lamb-Allsop, and sophomores Ambree Bennett and Kelsey Cook.
     Johns finished her first collegiate regular season ranked in the top-five in the RMAC in four statistical categories overall. The freshman leads the RMAC with seven game-winning goals, while she is second in shot attempts (66), and is third overall in both goals scored (12) and points (27).
    Johns, who was a two-time RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honoree this season, has scored at least one goal in five of her last seven matches overall with two three-goal outings, and has tallied eight goals and 18 points over this current stretch. In all, Johns has found the back of the net in nine of DSU's 18 matches this season, all of which have resulted in Trailblazer wins.  
    Ashton, along with Mertz and Lamb-Allsop, anchor a Trailblazer defensive back field which surrendered just nine goals and posted a school-record 11 shutout victories this season. Heading into this weekend's play, DSU's defense is allowing only 7.4 shots per match (133 total shots), which includes a paltry 2.9 shots on goal (53 total) a contest.
    On the offensive side, Lamb-Allsop leads the team with five assists and has one goal to her credit, while Mertz, who was also named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, has tallied one goal and two assists, and Ashton has tallied two goals, including her goal in the RMAC quarterfinal win on Tuesday.  
    Bennett finished the regular season second of the team in goals scored (6) and points (14), which included a two-goal outing in a 5-1 win at New Mexico Highlands (10/19). Meanwhile Cook is second on the club in assists (4), third in goals (5), and is tied with Bennett with 14 total points. Three of Cook's four assists came in last weekend's home sweep of Colorado Mesa (two assists) and Western Colorado (one assist).

CLEAN SHEETS: Dixie State padded its NCAA-era school record with its 10th and 11th shutuots of the season last weekend vs. both CMU and Western. The 11 ShO wins eclipsed the previous record of eight set during the 2007 season.
    In fact, DSU has posted 15 shutout results in its 18 matches (11-4-0) overall, while the 15 ShO results also set a new program record for most shutouts in a single season (2016; 8-5-0), which includes a program-best eight-consecutive matches to begin the year. The three matches that saw both teams find the back of the net came in a 2-1 DSU home loss to current No. 17 UCCS on Sept. 30, DSU's 5-1 win at NMHU (10/19), at last Tuesday's 2-1 result over MSUD.
    Overall, the Trailblazers have played to an 82-47-3 (.632) record in 132 total shutout results in their NCAA era. Entering this week's RMAC Tournament, Dixie State is ranked t-15th nationally in shutout percentage (.611; #2 in the RMAC) and 15th in NCAA DII in GAA (0.50; #2 in the RMAC).

2018 TEAM NOTES: DSU has scored 23 of its 35 goals on the season over its last seven matches, including a season-high five goal at NMHU (10/19) ... DSU is also ranked fifth in the latest United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional poll (10/30) and sixth in this week's official NCAA South Central rankings.
    Junior GK Nicole Rahman picked her fifth and sixth shutout wins of the year last weekend vs. CMU and Western Colorado to move to 10-0-0 on the year ... in fact, her clean sheet vs. Western tied the DSU single-season record for ShO wins, which was first set last year by teammate and fellow junior Felicity Tarr ... eight of Rahman's 10 wins in goal overall this season have come via shutout, including combined ShO results at CSU San Marcos and at CSULA ... Rahman's six solo ShO wins this season is also good for third place on DSU's career list, while her 10 wins ranks her third on the single-season list and seventh on the career list ... Rahman has also played in enough minutes in goal (842-plus) to vault atop DSU's single-season GAA list with a minuscule 0.21 GAA.

UP NEXT: The winner of the 2018 RMAC Tournament will earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA South Central Regionals, which will be held Nov. 9-11.