(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (2-2-0/0-0-0 RMAC) will make its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference debut this weekend as the Trailblazers hit the road for two league matches, beginning with a return trip to Salt Lake City to face Westminster College (4-0-0/0-0-0) on Friday beginning at 3 p.m., at Dumke Field. The Blazers will then make the short hop over to Denver to play at MSU Denver on Sunday, Sept. 16, at 12 noon at the MSUD Regency Athletic Complex.
    Live stats information for both matches can be found at HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Friday's match at Westminster will be only the second-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Griffins on the pitch, with WC having won the first match by a 1-0 count in St. George back in the 2013 season (11/3/13). Westminster is led by Head Coach Josh Pittman, who served as Dixie State head coach during the 2015 season.
    Sunday's match in Denver will mark the third match-up between Dixie State and MSU Denver, with both sides having protected the home pitch in the previous two meetings. Dixie State claimed a 5-2 result during the 2015 campaign (9/4/15), while the Roadrunners returned the favor exactly one year later in Denver with a 2-1 win (9/4/16).

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 14-7-0 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.

SO...WE'RE NEW HERE...: After 10 years playing 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 men's soccer title (2016) over their conference membership and posted a 57-61-12 overall record (.484) in 130 league games. DSU won eight or more PacWest matches in each of its final three league campaigns, including a perfect 13-0-0 march through the PacWest during its championship season in 2016.
    The 13 league wins that year were both DSU and PacWest single-season records, while the Blazers became just the second PacWest school to finish a conference season unbeaten and untied, joining former league member Grand Canyon, which went 6-0-0 in the league's first season in 2006.

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 posted a split of two matches played in Salt Lake City last weekend, beginning with a 3-1 result over former Pacific West Conference rival Notre Dame de Namur on Sept. 6. The Blazers then saw the tables turned and were stopped by the same 3-1 count vs. Texas A&M-International this past Saturday. 

QUICK KICKS: Junior forward Moises Medina (Mesquite, Nev./Virgin Valley HS) netted his second goal of the season in DSU's loss to TAMIU last Saturday ... Medina settled an indirect header sent in by fellow junior Gustavo Ortega (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) and fired a strike into the back of the net for the game's first goal ... Medina, who broke DSU's single-season goals record last season with 12, now has 20 career goals to his credit (#2 all-time at DSU), and he enters this weekend one assist (14) and seven points (54) shy of becoming DSU's career leader in those two statistical categories.
    Freshman midfielder Julius Nguyen (Seattle, Wash./John F. Kennedy Catholic HS) had quite the outing in the NDNU match on Sept. 6, during which he had his boot on all three DSU goals, starting with his first collegiate tally just 6:05 into the match ... Nguyen also collected assists on a pair of first-half scores from fellow freshman Tony Foulger (Salt Lake City, Utah/Olympus HS), who netted his first two collegiate goals in a span of 6:14 to give DSU the lead for good ... freshman Daniel Brubaker (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS), who picked up an assist in the season-opening win at Texas-Permian Basin (8/30), was also credited with an assist on the second Foulger goal.  
    Junior defender Ricky Nunez (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) quickly made a name for himself in his DSU debut as he netted the GWG just 52 seconds into the second OT at UTPB (8/30) ... junior GK Zach Nielson (West Point, Utah/Northridge HS) earned his 16th-career victory in goal in the NDNU win (9/6) and he now stands six wins shy of becoming DSU's career leader in GK wins.

UP NEXT: Dixie State opens a four-game RMAC homestand next weekend at Trailblazer Stadium, beginning with a match vs. Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday, Sept. 21, followed by a date vs. Regis on Sunday, Sept. 23.