Dixie State tied a pair of program records Thursday afternoon as the Trailblazers posted a 1-0 victory over former Pacific West Conference rival Azusa Pacific at the APU Soccer Complex.

With the win, Dixie State posted its fourth-straight victory – all by shutout – to begin the 2018 season, which tied for the best start in the program's NCAA era. 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. In addition, the Blazers' shutout result also tied for the longest shutout win streak in DSU's four-year era, a feat that has not occurred since midway through the 2012 campaign.

The Trailblazers (4-0-0) tallied the lone goal of the match at the 11:08 mark of the opening frame when junior Kilee Lamb-Allsop (Smithfield, Utah/Sky View HS) (1) sent in a corner kick that alluded all the Cougar defenders and found the back of the net.

APU (0-4-0) had a chance for the equalizer on a corner kick of its own midway through the 34^th-minute, but the Tanna Brinkman boot caromed off the post and was cleared away. Dixie State's defense then locked down APU from there as the Blazers held the Cougars without a shot attempt in the opening half and to five total shots (0 SOG) for the match.

The Cougars had one more look at the equalizer in the final two minutes of regulation as an APU shot was deflected for a Cougar corner kick. Azusa Pacific then sent the ball inside the DSU 6-yard box and the Cougars looked as if they had tied the match with a shot that snuck just under the cross bar. However the referee called a foul on APU, which negated the goal, and Dixie State managed to run the clock out to clinch the victory.

"We put in a solid defensive performance today against a good Azusa team that tested us, especially in the second half," said DSU Head Coach Gerry Lucey. "Our defensive group [including Tarr, Lamb-Allsop, Alexa Ashton (St. George, Utah/Dixie HS), Nichole Mertz (Springville, Utah/Springville HS) and Kamie Hunter (Hooper, Utah/Fremont HS)] helped the team tremendously today to get over this hurdle. It was far from our best performance of the season but our work rate was at the level we needed to pull off the win. With [RMAC] conference starting this weekend, we will need to raise our level."

Dixie State was credited with nine shots, four on frame, with freshman Whitley Johns (Gilbert, Ariz./Campo Verde HS) accounting for four of those attempts (2 SOG). Junior netminder Felicity Tarr (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View Marana HS) (W, 1-0-0) picked up the shutout win in her first start of the year and in the process moved into second place on DSU's career shutouts list (8) and into a tie for second place in career wins (16).

DSU continues its season-long seven-match road swing to open the 2018 season this Sunday as the Trailblazers head to Salt Lake City for their first-ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match, which will be played at Westminster College beginning at 1 p.m.