(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (4-2-3/2-1-2 RMAC) looks to remain in the top-four of the RMAC table this weekend as the Trailblazers return home for a pair of weekend matches.  DSU begins the homestand this Friday night vs. Colorado Christian (4-5-1/2-3-1 RMAC) at 5 p.m., before hosting RMAC preseason favorite No. 16 Colorado School of Mines (9-1-1/5-0-1 RMAC) on Sunday 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 is 1-1-0 all-time in its brief series with CCU, which includes a 2-0 road loss (10/5/18) in RMAC play last season in Lakewood. Dixie State did claim the first-ever meeting vs. the Cougars, a 3-0 neutral-site result back in the 2011 season (9/12/11).
    DSU enters Sunday's match vs. Mines hoping to erase the sting of a pair of 1-0 losses to the Orediggers last season, both of which came on CSM's home pitch in the regular season (10/7/18) and in the 2018 RMAC Tournament semifinal round (11/2/18).

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 4-2-3 at Dixie State/35-48-15 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 came away with a draw and a hard-fought loss on its two-game Colorado road trip last weekend. The Trailblazers began the trip at MSU Denver, where both sides battled back-and-forth through a scoreless stalemate last Friday afternoon. DSU then turned around and gave No. 1-ranked UCCS all it could handle, but a Mountain Lion goal late in the 76th-minute proved to be too much to overcome, as the Blazers fell by a 2-1 count in Colorado Springs.

2019 TEAM NOTES: Dixie State's home wins over both Regis (9/27) and Black Hills State (9/29) 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 that home sweep, including the first collegiate goal for sophomore Tess Donaldson, while fellow sophomores Zoe Clark and Jaci Cook-Dandos, and senior Alexa Ashton also netted goals in the BHSU win ... Ashton went on to score her co-team leading third goal of the year in the loss at UCCS last Sunday.
    Sophomore Whitley Johns tallied her third goal of the year, and first GWG of 2019 (and eighth GWG of her career), in the 32' vs. Regis (9/27) ... 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 fifth assist in the UCCS loss, which moved her into a tie for 10th-place on DSU's career assist list (10), 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 (9/29) ... 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 18 goals scored through their first nine 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 18-9 through nine 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 ... 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 0.93 GAA through nine matches.  
    Dixie State's draw at MSU Denver last Friday, its third of the season, tied the program's NCAA-era record of three draws set during the 2011 season (7-8-3) ... junior netminder Adelle Brown posted her first clean sheet in a DSU kit and made three saves at MSUD, and she collected three more saves in a losing effort at UCCS.

UP NEXT: Dixie State heads out on its penultimate road trip of the 2019 season next weekend for matches at Adams State on Friday, Oct. 18, and at Fort Lewis on Sunday, Oct. 20.