(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (6-3-4/4-2-3 RMAC) returns home this weekend for its final two home matches of the 2019 regular season. The Trailblazers begin Homecoming Weekend vs. New Mexico Highlands (0-11-0/0-9-0 RMAC) on Friday, at 7:30 p.m., before hosting CSU-Pueblo (6-6-1/5-3-1 RMAC) on Senior Day Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
    Prior to the start of Sunday's match vs. CSU-P, DSU will honor its four seniors, including Kilee Allsop, Alexa Ashton, Kamie Hunter and Nicole Rahman.
    Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State will look to remain unbeaten against both NMHU and CSU-P when the Trailblazers take to the pitch this weekend. DSU defeated the Cowgirls by a 5-1 count in the first-ever meeting between the two sides last season in Las Vegas, N.M. (10/19/18).
    Meanwhile, the Blazers are 1-0-1 all-time in their brief series vs. the ThunderWolves, including a 2-0 result last season in Pueblo (10/21/18). The two sides also battled to a 2-2 draw in a neutral site match played in Phoenix, Ariz., during the 2012 season (9/8/12).

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 6-3-4 at Dixie State/37-49-16 overall record) is in his first season as Dixie State head coach. Golas brings to the Trailblazer program more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, most recently serving as assistant women's soccer coach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for four seasons from 2015-19. While at Milwaukee, he helped lead the Panthers to a 56-10-11 overall record, four Horizon League championships and one NCAA Tournament appearance (2018).
    Prior to his arrival at Milwaukee, Coach Golas had collegiate coaching stops at Texas A&M-Texarkana, Illinois College, William Penn, Angelo State, Lewis & Clark and Millikin University. Golas is joined on the Trailblazer sideline by first year assistant coach Paul Kimbrough (United States Sports Academy, 2011), and second year assistants and former Dixie State soccer standouts Laura Evans (Dixie State, 2007) and Juli Nield (Dixie State, 2006). 

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State came away with a win and a draw on its penultimate RMAC road trip last weekend in Colorado. The Trailblazers opened the weekend with a dominant 5-0 result at Adams State last Friday, before coming away with another road point in a scoreless draw at Fort Lewis on Sunday. Despite 11 shots on goal (21 total shots) and 13 corner kick chances, Dixie State could not find the back of the net as the Blazers broke a program record with their fourth tie of season. 

THINGS TIGHTENING UP IN RMAC RACE: Dixie State enters the second-to-last weekend of the 2019 season in seventh place in the RMAC table at 4-2-3, 1.5 games back of MSU Denver (5-3-2) for the fourth spot in the upcoming conference tourney.
    No. 1-ranked UCCS (10-0-0) looks to be a lock to clinch the RMAC regular season crown after the Mountain Lions defeated second place No. 17 Colorado School of Mines (8-1-1) by a 2-1 count in 2OT last weekend. Regis (6-2-1) is currently third, followed by MSUD, and Westminster College (5-3-1) and CSU-Pueblo (5-3-1) are tied for fifth.
    The top-eight teams in the standings will advance on to the 2019 RMAC Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action at the home sites of the top-two seeds on Friday, Nov. 8. The semifinals will be held on Sunday, Nov. 10 and championship match will be played on Friday, Nov. 15. Those matches will be played at the home sites of the top-remaining seeds, with the tournament winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regionals.

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). 

2019 TEAM NOTES: DSU enters this weekend's final two regular season home matches having won 11 of their last 14 overall on the Trailblazer Stadium pitch overall since the start of the 2018 season ... Dixie State's five-goal result at Adams State last Friday marked the fourth time this season that the Trailblazers have scored four or more goals in a match, and it was the first occasion on the road ... DSU opened the year with six goals vs. Cal State San Bernardino (6-1; 9/5), followed by a four-goal day in a shutout result vs. Black Hills State (4-0; 9/29), and a 5-1 win over Colorado Christian (Oct. 11).
    Sophomore F Whitley Johns notched her first two-goal match of the season and the fourth of her young career in last Friday's win at ASU ... Johns scored both goals in the first 26 minutes of play, including her team-leading second GWG at the 5:16 mark ... Johns' two goals moved her into t-fifth on DSU's career goals list (18), t-fourth in career GWG (9) and eighth in career points (42; 18g/6a).  
    Junior MF Kelsey Cook collected her team-leading seventh assist of the season on Johns' GWG at ASU, which vaulted her into t-fourth place on DSU's single season assists list and t-eighth with teammate Kilee Allsop (12) on the program's career assists list ... junior Jill Bennett tallied her third goal of the season, and the second goal in her last four appearances overall, at ASU last Friday, while fellow juniors Sophie Stewart (2) and Ambree Bennett (1) also scored in the win ... in addition, Stewart was credited with her second assist of the year on the Jill Bennett goal.
    In all, 12 different Trailblazers have accounted for all 28 goals scored through their first 13 matches of the year ... DSU's 23 goals scored this year also includes an own goal that opened the season scoring in the win vs. Cal State San Bernardino (9/5) ... the CSUSB own goal was the first by a DSU opponent since former PacWest foe Hawai'i Pacific got an unlucky defensive bounce in a 2-0 Blazer win during the 2015 season (10/30/15) ... in all, Dixie State has outscored its opponents 28-11 through 13 matches overall.
    Dixie State's draw at Fort Lewis last Sunday was the team's fourth tie of the season, which broke the program's NCAA-era record of three draws set during the 2011 season (7-8-3) ... junior netminder Adelle Brown posted her second solo clean sheet in a DSU kit and made a career-high five saves at Fort Lewis ... Brown has surrendered only three goals in eight matches with 20 saves and has now played enough minutes (586:21) this season to have her current 0.46 GAA qualify for DSU single-season rankings (currently No. 2 all-time) ... DSU's defense has utilized five goalkeepers this year and the unit owns a combined 0.79 GAA, which is good for fourth in the RMAC.

UP NEXT: Dixie State closes the 2019 regular season on the road with two important RMAC matches as teams make their final push for conference tourney seeds. DSU will first head Grand Junction to face Colorado Mesa on Friday, Nov. 1, before wrapping up league play at Western Colorado in Gunnison on Sunday, Nov. 3.