(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (8-3-4/6-2-3 RMAC) closes the 2019 regular season on the road with two important RMAC matches as teams make their final push for conference tournament seeds. DSU will head to Grand Junction for both matches, first to face host Colorado Mesa (8-6-1/5-5-1 RMAC) this Friday at 4 p.m., before wrapping up league play vs. Western Colorado (3-11-1/3-7-1 RMAC) on CMU's Walker Field on Sunday morning at 10 a.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 edge over CMU, including a 3-0 home result over the Mavericks last season at Trailblazer Stadium (10/25/18). Prior to that match, the two sides had not met since the 2011 season when the Mavericks claimed a 1-0 victory in Grand Junction (9/8/11). DSU won the first two matches in the series, including a 5-1 road win in during the 2008 season (10/8/08) and a 2-1 home result in the 2010 campaign (9/9/10).
    Sunday's match vs. Western Colorado will be just the third match between the Trailblazers and Mountaineers on the pitch. Dixie State won the previous two meetings via shutout, including a 4-0 triumph last season (10/27/18) in St. George, and a 3-0 result in the Blazers' 2017 season opener played in Nampa, Idaho (8/31/17).

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 8-3-4 at Dixie State/39-49-16 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 closed out its 2019 home slate with a pair of resounding Homecoming Weekend victories on the pitch at Trailblazer Stadium. The Blazers tied a school single-match record with 10 goals in a 10-1 romp over New Mexico Highlands last Friday night, then doubled-up CSU-Pueblo, 6-3, on Senior Day Sunday.

THINGS TIGHTENING UP IN RMAC RACE: Dixie State's home sweep last weekend vaulted the Trailblazers up three spots from seventh to fourth place in the RMAC table heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The Blazers (6-2-3, 21 pts) enter play this week one point behind third-place Regis (7-3-1, 22 pts) and own a slim one-point lead over fifth-place Westminster College (6-3-2, 20 pts).
    No. 1-ranked UCCS (11-0-0, 33 pts) looks to be a lock to clinch the RMAC regular season crown after the Mountain Lions defeated second place No. 16 Colorado School of Mines (10-1-1, 31 pts) by a 2-1 count in 2OT two weekends ago. CSU-P (5-4-2, 17 pts) and MSU Denver (5-4-2, 17 pts) are tied for sixth place in the standings, and CMU (5-5-1, 16 pts) is clinging to the eighth spot.
    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). 

NATIONAL/REGIONAL RANKINGS: Dixie State debuted at No. 6 in the first official NCAA Division II women's soccer South Central regional rankings released on Wednesday. DSU is also ranked fifth in the latest United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional poll, though the Blazers are not listed in this week's USC national poll.

JOHNS SHOOTS HER WAY TO RMAC OPOW AWARD: Sophomore forward Whitley Johns was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday for her efforts in the Trailblazers' home conference sweep last weekend.
    Johns tallied four goals on 12 shots in DSU's two wins, which started with her first hat trick of the year, and third of her career, in the 10-1 NMHU result on Friday night. Two of her three goals came in a 1:01 span in the first 10 minutes of the match, including her third game-winning goal of the season, and she would add another score in the second half.
    Then in Sunday's 6-3 triumph vs. CSU-Pueblo on Sunday, the sophomore struck for her team-leading 10th goal of the season in the 51st-minute to give her side a two-goal advantage. Johns is currently third in the RMAC in goals (10, t-#9 on DSU season list), t-third in points (23, 9th on DSU season list) and t-fifth in GWGs (3, t-7th on DSU season list). Johns' four-goal weekend also moved her into solo fifth place on DSU's career goals list (22), fourth in career GWG (10) and sixth in career points (50; 22g/6a).

PERFECT 10 AND/OR SWEET 16: Dixie State combined to score 16 goals last weekend, including a single-match record tying 10 goals in the NMHU win, followed by six more tallies in the CSU-P result. The 16 goals scored were also a DSU program record for most goals scored a two-match stretch, while the 10 goals vs. NMHU equaled the program's single-game record of 10 set in a 10-2 neutral-site win over Northwest Christian in Salt Lake City during the 2007 season (9/7/07).
    In addition, the Trailblazers collected seven assists on their 10 goals, which is the second-highest single match total in program history, while the 27 points (10g/7a) broke the previous school record of 25 set in the NCU win in 2007.

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State wrapped up its 2019 nine-match home slate 7-1-1 with five of those wins coming in RMAC play ... DSU has won 13 of its last 15 home matches overall since the start of the 2018 season ... Dixie State has scored five or more goals five times this season, including a six-goal outing in the season opener vs. Cal State San Bernardino (6-1, 9/5) and a pair of five-goal games against Colorado Christian (10/11) and at Adams State (10/18).
    DSU has outscored its opponents 44-15 through 15 matches ... the 44 goals to this point of the season are fifth-most in the program's NCAA era, and are the most since the Blazers netted 47 goals in 2017 ... the school record for goals in a season is 55, which was set in 2007 ... DSU's 30 assists and 118 total points are also good for fifth place on those respective season top-10 program lists.
    In all, 13 different Trailblazers have accounted for 43 of DSU's 44 total goals scored ... sophomore Zoe Clark also tallied four goals last weekend as she found the net twice in each win to push her season goal total to six, which is good for a tie for second on the team with junior Kelsey Cook ... speaking of Cook, the junior moved into solo second place on DSU's single season assists list as she dished out two more helpers on the weekend, including her RMAC-leading ninth dime on Sophie Stewart's third goal of the year that opened the scoring just 3:45 into play vs. CSU-P on Sunday  ... Cook, who also scored goals in both wins last weekend, vaulted into t-seventh in career assists (14) and she is four points away (34, 10g/14a) from cracking into the top-10 on DSU's career points list.
    Senior Kilee Allsop made the most of her final two home games as she scored once and assisted on three other goals, including on consecutive second-half tallies vs. CSU-P ... she also netted her third-career goal in the 20th-minute of NMHU win and assisted on fellow senior Alexa Ashton's fourth goal of the year four-plus minutes earlier vs. the Cowgirls ... Allsop's three dimes moved her into a tie for fourth on DSU's career list (15), while her six assists this year are good for t-sixth on the program's single-season list ... the senior also moved into sixth place in career starts (68).
    In all 10 different Blazers tallied multiple points on the weekend, including juniors Ambree Bennett (1G) and Jill Bennett (1G, 1A), sophomore Jaci Cook-Dandos (1G, 1A) and freshman Sydney Roberts (2A) ... meanwhile, junior Andrea Camacho and freshmen Brynlie Ivie and Gabby Jensen (first collegiate point) all collected their first assists in a DSU kit over the weekend.
    Of note, the first Blazer goal of the year came on an own goal in the season-opening 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).
    Dixie State's draw at Fort Lewis (10/20) 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 tied DSU's NCAA-era single match record for saves with 10 in the CSU-P win last Sunday, including several clutch stops in the second half ... Brown tied former DSU keeper Abby Johnson, who stopped 10 MSU-Billings shots during the 2012 season (L, 0-2 - 9/6/12) ... Brown posted her second solo clean sheet in a DSU kit and made a career-high five saves at Fort Lewis (10/20) ... Brown has surrendered six goals in 10 matches with 30 saves and has now played enough minutes (731:21) this season to have her current 0.76 GAA qualify for DSU single-season rankings (currently t-No. 3 all-time) ... DSU's defense has utilized five goalkeepers this year and the unit owns a combined 0.94 GAA, which is good for fifth in the RMAC.
    Dixie State played in its 250th NCAA match when the Blazers took the field vs. CSU-P last Sunday ... the Trailblazers are 145-89-16 all-time (.612) since joining the NCAA ranks in 2006 and has won 10 or more matches in nine of their 13-plus seasons of four-year play.

UP NEXT: The 2019 RMAC Tournament 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.