(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (2-5-1/0-3-1 RMAC) continues its four-match RMAC homestand this weekend at Trailblazer Stadium, beginning with a match vs. Fort Lewis (5-0-2/3-0-1 RMAC) Friday evening beginning at 5 p.m. The Trailblazers will then play host to Colorado Mesa (5-0-2/3-0-1 RMAC) Sunday afternoon starting at 2:30 p.m. Live stats information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Friday's match vs. Fort Lewis will be just the second-ever meeting between the Trailblazers and Skyhawks on the soccer pitch. In 2009, FLC claimed a 3-1 home decision in Durango (9/4/09).
    Dixie State and Colorado Mesa have squared off five previous times, with each team alternating wins. The Mavericks have won each of the odd-numbered matches to own a 3-2 series lead, including two results in St. George (2010 and 2012), while DSU posted wins in games two (1-0; 9/6/09) and four (1-0; 9/8/11) of the series, both of which came on the road in Grand Junction.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 14-10-1 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 enters this week still in search of its first RMAC victory as the Trailblazers came out on the short end of two home matches last weekend. DSU dropped a 3-2 decision to Colorado-Colorado Springs last Friday, before being edged by Regis by a 1-0 count this past Sunday.

QUICK KICKS: Junior forward Moises Medina (Mesquite, Nev./Virgin Valley HS) netted his team-high third goal of the season in DSU's tie at Westminster (9/14) ... Medina, who broke DSU's single-season goals record last season with 12, now has 21 career goals to his credit (#2 all-time at DSU), and he enters this weekend one assist (14) and five points (56) shy of becoming DSU's career leader in those two statistical categories.
    Junior forward Gustavo Ortega (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) recorded his second-career two-goal match with a pair of tallies in the second half of the Blazers' lost to UCCS ... Ortega got Dixie State on the board in the 54th-minute on assists from senior Dominic Damato (Las Vegas, Nev./Shadow Ridge HS) and freshman Daniel Brubaker (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) ... Ortega then drew DSU to within a goal nearly six minutes later when he netted a shot on a ball played in by freshman Cole Shaffer (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta HS) ... Ortega's first two-goal match came last season in a 2-1 win over Montana State-Billings (9/2/17).
    Brubaker notched his team-leading third assist on Ortega's first goal, while Damato moved into sole possession of fourth place on DSU's career assist list with his ninth-career dime ... freshman midfielder Julius Nguyen (Seattle, Wash./John F. Kennedy Catholic HS) had quite the outing in the NDNU (9/6) win, 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.
    DSU saw its streak of 43-straight matches without a tie snapped in a 2OT draw in the team's RMAC debut match at Westminster Sept. 14.

UP NEXT: Dixie State closes out the road portion of its 2018 schedule with four-straight RMAC matches, beginning with a showdown at RMAC leader Colorado School of Mines on Friday, Oct. 5, followed by a date at South Dakota Mines on Sunday, Oct. 7.