(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (6-5-1/5-3-0 RMAC) continues its four-match homestand this weekend with a pair of key RMAC return matches as the Trailblazers look to climb into the top four of the conference table with three weeks left in the 2019 regular season. DSU will play host to Fort Lewis (6-3-3/4-3-1 RMAC) on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., and will wrap up the homestand with a rematch against Colorado Mesa (7-2-2/5-1-2 RMAC) on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
    Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State owns a 3-1-0 series lead vs. FLC and has won three-straight vs. the Skyhawks overall, including a 4-1 result in Durango back on Oct. 6. DSU also swept both RMAC matches last season (4-1 in St. George, 9/28/18; 2-1 in Durango, 10/14/18), this after the FLC won the first-ever meeting between the two sides by a 3-1 count in Durango (9/4/09) during the 2009 season.  
    On the flip side, the Trailblazers enter Sunday's showdown with Colorado Mesa looking to stop a four-match losing skid vs. the Mavericks, which includes a tough 1-0 setback in Grand Junction this past Oct. 4, and a pair of 2-1 conference losses last season both at home (9/30/18) and in Grand Junction (10/12/18). Dixie State's two wins in the series have come on the road (1-0; 9/6/09 and 1-0; 9/8/11) in non-conference action.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 25-19-3 overall) is in his third season on the Trailblazer sideline after guiding DSU to a 7-9-2 mark last season, which included an eighth-place 5-7-2 mark (17 pts) in their RMAC debut.
    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, where he helped lead the Mavericks to an RMAC Tournament championship in 2013.
    Broadhead is joined on the sideline again this season by former DSU standout netminder Bradley Trella, who is in his third season as an assistant coach and will work with the goalkeepers.

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED SEVENTH IN THE RMAC IN 2019: Dixie State was picked to finish seventh in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll released on August 13.
    Defending RMAC champion Colorado School of Mines was the overwhelming choice to defend its title as the Orediggers received 10 out of a possible 12 first-place votes to top the poll with 120 points. Westminster College collected one first-place nod to finish second in the preseason rankings with 104 points, followed closely by Colorado Mesa (103 pts) in third, Regis (one first place vote, 96 pts) in fourth, UCCS in fifth (72 pts) and Fort Lewis in sixth (67 pts) just one point ahead of Dixie State (66 pts).

LAST SEASON IN THE RMAC: After joining the RMAC in 2018, the 2019 season will mark the second and final season the Trailblazers will be a competing member of the conference. In 2020, Dixie State will begin its transition to NCAA Division I status and will become a new member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State opened its final long homestand of the 2019 season with a split of two matches against the two RMAC "Mines" schools last weekend at Trailblazer Stadium. DSU began the weekend with a 1-0 triumph over South Dakota Mines this past Friday night, but came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision to conference leader Colorado School of Mines on Sunday afternoon.

2019 TEAM NOTES: Freshman MF Guglielmo Bianchi scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season, and his fourth goal in the last seven matches overall, early in the 21st-minute in the loss to Colorado School of Mines on Sunday ... fellow freshman John Joseph has also found the back of the net in four of his last seven starts, including his fourth goal of the year on a PK in the win at Fort Lewis (10/6) ... Joseph, who was named RMAC OPOW this past Sept. 30, netted his first collegiate GWG in the Regis road win (9/27), and scored one goal and assisted on another in the road win at UCCS (9/29).
    Senior forward Moises Medina recorded his 19th-career assist (and co-team high third of the year) on the Bianchi goal on Sunday ... Medina pulled into a tie atop DSU's career GWG list (Jordan Roylance, 11 - 2009-12) with his 11th game-winner overall, and fourth goal of the year in the UCCS win (9/29) ... Medina's goal at UCCS, his 27th goal in 62 career matches, also moved him to within on goal of tying Roylance (28) atop DSU's career goals list ... Medina's four goals this season have come over his last seven matches, including his third-career hat trick in DSU's 5-2 result over MSU Denver (9/22) ... his hat trick was just the fifth in program history and the first since the senior achieved the feat twice in the 2017 season (at UCCS 9/11/17, vs. Point Loma 10/21/17) ... Roylance accounted for DSU's other two hat tricks, both of which came during the 2009 season.
    Sophomores Daniel Brubaker and Matt Lockwood also have three assists apiece through 12 matches, with Lockwood's third helper coming on Dresdan Quackenbush's GWG in the SDM result last Friday.  
    In fact, you could say there is equal distribution in goals and assists (17 assists total on 19 goals) on this year's club as nine different players have at least one dime ... coincidentally, nine different players have also scored goals through 12 matches as well.
     Senior netminder Zach Nielson collected win #27 in the SDM shutout last Friday - his ninth-career clean sheet overall, which pulled him to within three shutouts away from passing former DSU keeper Tyler Walters (11, 2010-13) for second place all-time on that list ... Nielson (203 saves) made 10 combined saves over the weekend, including eight saves against CSM, as he became just the second GK in program history with 200-plus career saves (Walters, 298, 2010-13) ... Nielson also stopped a career-high 10 shots in the FLC road win (10/6), which tied him with former DSU keeper Spencer Anderson (10 vs. Cal Poly Pomona, 2014) for the second-most saves in a single match in program history ... the senior leads all of NCAA Division II in total saves (71, 5.92 spg - 18th-nationally) through 12 matches ... Dixie State is also ranked 12th-nationally in save percentage (.835)

UP NEXT: Dixie State begins its final road swing of the 2019 season next weekend with matches at Adams State on Friday, Oct. 25, and at CSU-Pueblo on Sunday, Oct. 27.