(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Winners of four of its last five overall, Dixie State (5-4-1/4-2-0 RMAC) kicks off a crucial four-match RMAC homestand this weekend with matches against the two conference Mines schools at Trailblazer Stadium. The weekend begins with a date vs. South Dakota Mines (2-6-1/1-4-1 RMAC) on Friday, Oct. 11, followed by a match against conference favorite Colorado School of Mines (7-2-1/5-0-1 RMAC) on Sunday, Oct. 13. Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State and SDM both came away with a point after the two sides battled to a scoreless draw in their first-ever meeting last season in Rapid City (10/7/18).  
    DSU enters Sunday's match vs. Colorado School of Mines not only looking for its first win in two tries, but also its first goal against the Orediggers. DSU dropped a 3-0 non-conference decision in Golden during the 2016 season (9/2/16), and suffered a 1-0 road setback in the first RMAC match between the two teams last season (10/5/18) in Golden. 

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 24-18-3 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 finished off a 3-1-0 RMAC road swing with a split of two matches last weekend in Colorado. DSU began the weekend with a tough 1-0 loss at Colorado Mesa last Friday night in Grand Junction, but bounced back in a big way with a 4-1 result at Fort Lewis this past Sunday afternoon in Durango.

2019 TEAM NOTES: Freshman forward John Joseph has scored goals in four of his last five starts, including his co-team high fourth goal on a PK in the Fort Lewis win last Sunday ... 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 netted his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the win at UCCS (9/29), and in the process, pulled into a tie atop DSU's career GWG list (Jordan Roylance, 11 - 2009-12) with his 11th game-winner overall ... Medina's goal at UCCS, his 27th goal in 60 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 five 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.
    Freshman MF Guglielmo Bianchi also scored his fourth goal of the season on a PK at Fort Lewis, which came just 44 seconds into the match and was his third goal in his last five matches overall ... sophomore Daniel Brubaker dished out his team-high third assist on the eventual GWG at Fort Lewis, which came off the boot of fellow sophomore Idris Alabi (1) in the 11th-minute.
    In fact, you could say there is equal distribution in assists (15 total on 17 goals) on this year's club as nine different players have at least one dime ... Medina, sophomores Matt Lockwood and Raul Ruiz, and freshman Logan Beus each have collected two assists through 10 matches this season ... Beus, Lockwood and senior MF Enrique Bucio have also found the back of the net as well, while sophomore Tony Foulger added his name to the goals list with his first of the year in the opening 45 at FLC last Sunday.
    Dixie State is 3-for-4 in PK chances this season, including hitting on two of three attempts last weekend ... after not converting on a clutch PK chance late in the CMU match, DSU came back with two conversions by Bianchi and Joseph at FLC.
     Senior netminder Zach Nielson collected win #26 at FLC last Sunday in a match that saw him stop a career-high 10 shots ... Nielson's 10 saves 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, and leaves the senior needing just seven more saves to become the second GK in program history with 200 career saves (Tyler Walters, 298, 2010-13).
    Nielson also made six saves at CMU and leads all RMAC GKs and is ranked 12th-nationally in saves (61, 6.10 spg) through 10 matches ... additionally, Nielson posted his eighth-career clean sheet in the DBU win (9/7), which pulled him to within three shutouts away from tying Walters (11, 2010-13) for second place all-time on that list.

UP NEXT: Dixie State continues its homestand next weekend with return matches against Fort Lewis on Friday, Oct. 18, and Colorado Mesa on Sunday, Oct. 20.