(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (4-1-2/2-0-1 RMAC) heads to Colorado to kick off the road portion of its final RMAC season with a pair of matches on the Front Range. The Trailblazers begin the trip this Friday afternoon at MSU Denver (3-5-1/2-1-1 RMAC) at 4 p.m., before making the quick drive to Colorado Springs for a Sunday showdown at No. 1 UCCS (8-0-0/4-0-0) at 1 p.m. Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State is 2-0-0 in its brief series with MSUD, with both wins coming at home last season in the Trailblazers' RMAC debut. DSU claimed a 1-0 result (9/28/18) when the Roadrunners came to Trailblazer Stadium ranked 13th in the country, then eliminated MSUD in the RMAC Tournament quarterfinal round with a 2-1 victory (10/30/18).  
    Sunday's match against top-ranked UCCS will be just the second-ever meeting between the Blazers and Mountain Lions on the soccer pitch. Last season at Trailblazer Stadium, Dixie State came up on the short end of a hard-fought 2-1 match with UCCS (9/30/18).

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 4-1-2 at Dixie State/35-47-14 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). 

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED THIRD IN THE RMAC IN 2019: Dixie State was voted to finish third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women's soccer preseason coaches' poll released on August 13.
    Defending RMAC champion Colorado School of Mines was the consensus choice to defend its crown as the Orediggers received 13 of the possible 14 first place votes to claim the top spot in the poll with 169 points. UCCS collected the other first place vote and tallied 151 points to finish second, followed by DSU in third with 129 points, MSU Denver (122 pts) in fourth, Regis (120 pts) in fifth, Westminster College (114 pts) in sixth, and CSU-Pueblo (91 pts) claimed the seventh spot to round out the top-half of the 14-team poll.

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 remained unbeaten in the RMAC table thanks to a pair of dominant shutout home victories last weekend at Trailblazer Stadium. DSU began the weekend with a 2-0 triumph over Regis last Friday, then followed that up with a resounding 4-0 result vs. Black Hills State this past Sunday. 

2019 TEAM NOTES: Dixie State's two wins last weekend extended its home unbeaten streak to nine-straight (8-0-1), while the Trailblazers have won 10 of their last 12 at home overall since the start of the 2018 season ... six different Trailblazers accounted for all six goals scored in last weekend's home sweep, including the first collegiate goal for sophomore Tess Donaldson, while fellow sophomores Zoe Clark and Jaci Cook-Dandos, and senior Alexa Ashton, each netted their second goal of the season in the BHSU win
    Sophomore Whitley Johns tallied her team-leading third goal of the year, and first GWG of 2019 (and eighth GWG of her career), in the 32' vs. Regis ... Johns also moved into a tie for sixth place on DSU's career goals list with her 15th tally overall ... meanwhile junior Kelsey Cook registered the assist on the Johns' goal and later netted her second goal of the season with 6:19 remaining in regulation time ... Cook also collected her team-leading fourth assist in the BHSU win, while senior Kilee Allsop moved into a tie for eighth place on DSU's career assist list with dime #11 on the Donaldson GWG vs. BHSU ... not to be outdone, freshman Sydney Roberts picked up her first collegiate point with an assist on the Clark goal in the BHSU result.
    In all, 10 different Trailblazers have accounted for all 17 goals scored through their first seven matches of the year, which 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 17-7 through seven matches overall.
    Dixie State's defense combined to limit Regis and BHSU to just nine total shots (5 SOG), including only two BHSU shot attempts, in the two ShO results last weekend ... meanwhile, DSU notched season-highs for shots (29), SOG (14) and corner kicks (14) in BHSU win ... DSU's defense has utilized five goalkeepers this year and owns a combined 0.94 GAA through seven matches.  
    Dixie State's 2OT draw at Concordia-Irvine (9/14) snapped a stretch of 92-straight matches over a span of five-plus seasons that DSU did not have a match end in a tie ... the last instance that Dixie State posted a draw came in the season opener of the 2014 season at home vs. Chico State (1-1; 9/4/14) ... meanwhile, you have to go all the way back to 2013 to find the last time DSU posted two draws in one season, doing so against both MSU Billings (0-0, 9/7/13) and BYU-Hawaii (2-2, 10/3/13).

UP NEXT: Dixie State returns home to face Colorado Christian on Friday, Oct. 11, and RMAC preseason favorite Colorado School of Mines on Sunday, Oct. 13.