(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (3-0-0/0-0-0 RMAC) continues its season-opening road swing with two matches this week, which includes the Trailblazers' Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference debut. DSU begins the week with a return trip to southern California for a match at former Pacific West Conference foe Azusa Pacific (0-3-0) on Thursday beginning at 4 p.m. (PT), at the APU Cougar Soccer Complex.
    The Trailblazers will then head north on Interstate-15 to Salt Lake City for their first-ever RMAC match at in-state rival Westminster College (3-1-0/0-0-0 RMAC) on Sunday, Sept. 16, at 1 p.m., at Dumke Field. Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State enters Thursday's match at APU in search of win No. 1 vs. the Cougars as Azusa Pacific has won each of the previous seven meetings, including a 2-1 result last season in St. George in the Trailblazers' final PacWest match.
    Dixie State is 4-0-0 all-time in its series vs. Westminster College and has posted shutout wins in three of the four meetings overall, including a 1-0 win in Salt Lake City during the 2016 season (9/13/16). Last season in St. George, the Trailblazers erupted for eight goals in an 8-2 non-conference result at now Trailblazer Stadium (9/15/17).
    The two sides also met twice in the 2006, the first time coming in Dixie State first-ever NCAA match, a 5-0 DSU triumph in Salt Lake City (8/26). The Trailblazers also posted a 9-0 home win (10/28) to close out that first season.

COACHING STAFF: Gerry Lucey (LIU Post, 1994; 3-0-0 at Dixie State; 156-49-21 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.

2018 TEAM NOTES: Dixie State opened the 2018 campaign with three-straight road shutout victories, including a pair of 2-0 results at Cal State San Bernardino (8/30) and CSU San Marcos (9/1), followed by a 1-0 win at CSU Los Angeles (9/3) ... the 3-0-0 start marked just the second time in the program's NCAA era that the Trailblazers had begun a season with three shutout wins ... in DSU's first year of NCAA play in 2006, the program registered three consecutive shutout results on its way to a program-best 4-0-0 start.
    Junior MF Alexa Ashton (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS) won DSU's first RMAC weekly award after she was named conference Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 4 ... Ashton played in all 180 minutes in Dixie State's first two wins and anchored a DSU defensive unit that surrendered a combined seven total shot attempts ... in all, Dixie State has given up only 14 total shots (4 SOG) through three games this season ... sophomore GK Nicole Rahman (Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes HS) earned all three victories in goal in her first three career starts as netminder ... Rahman stopped two SOG at CSUSB, while junior GK Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) saw her first action in the second half at CSULA and collected two saves to preserve that shutout win.
    Freshman forward Whitley Johns (Gilbert, Ariz./Campo Verde HS) made the most of her Trailblazer debut as she tallied a goal in each of DSU's first three games, including GWGs at CSUSB and at CSULA ... Johns, who also scored an insurance goal at CSUSM, is the first player in the program's NCAA era to score in the first three games of a season, and is just the eighth player to score at least one goal in at least three-straight matches overall, the last being former Trailblazer All-American Darian Murdock (Herriman, Utah/Herriman HS), who scored in six-straight matches last season ... Murdock also achieved the feat in 2015 and 2016, while former players Wendy Stratford (2007/2008), Erika Mouritsen (2008), Mikayla Wilkes (4; 2009), Carly Hancock (2009), Kimberly Thurman (2013) and Alexis Torres (2014-15) had scored in at least three-straight matches.
    Sophomore Ambree Bennett (South Jordan, Utah/Herriman HS) (GWG at CSUSM) and freshman Kelsey Cook (American Fork, Utah/American Fork HS) also found the back of the net on the trip, and Cook collected one of DSU's six total assists ... sophomore Tori Page (Centerville, Utah/Viewmont HS) led DSU with two dimes on the trip, while senior Nichole Mertz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) dished out her 13th-career assist in the CSUSM win to move into a tie for sixth on DSU career list ... senior Taylor Claiborne (Peoria, Ariz./Raymond S. Kellis HS) and freshman Lauren Buxton (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) accounted for the other two Trailblazer helpers. 

UP NEXT: Dixie State wraps up its season-opening seven-game road swing with two RMAC matches at Regis University on Friday, Sept. 21, and at Black Hills State on Sunday, Sept. 23.