(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (10-7-1/9-5-0 RMAC) will make its RMAC postseason debut this Thursday night as the fourth-seeded Trailblazers play host to in-state rival and fifth-seeded Westminster College (10-6-2/8-4-2 RMAC) at Trailblazer Stadium. Kick-off is slated for 6 p.m. Live stats and streaming video information for Thursday's match can be found HERE.
    The DSU/WC winner will then move on to the RMAC Tournament semifinal round to face top seed #14 Colorado School of Mines this Sunday, Nov. 10, at 2:30 p.m. in Golden. The DSU/WC match will be the second of two RMAC Quarterfinal matches to be played on Thursday, as No. 3 seed Colorado Mesa will host No. 6 seed Fort Lewis at 3 p.m. The winner of that match will travel to Denver to play at No. 2 seed Regis this Sunday at 1 p.m. The RMAC Championship match will be played next weekend (day and time TBA) on the home pitch of the highest remaining seed.

DIXIE STATE VS. WESTMINSTER ALL-TIME: Dixie State enters Thursday's quarterfinal showdown with Westminster with a 1-3-1 all-time record vs. the Griffins, which includes the Blazers' first-ever win in the series in a 2-0 result last Friday in Salt Lake City. Prior to that win, DSU had dropped two of its last three to Westminster in RMAC play, including a hard-fought 1-0 overtime setback in St. George earlier this season (9/20) in the conference opener for both sides.

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 29-21-3 overall) is in his third season on the Trailblazer sideline and has led the program to 10 or more wins in two of his three year at the helm, including 10 wins this season and a 12-5-0 mark in his debut season in 2017.
    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.

LAST TIME OUT: Dixie State clinched its first-ever RMAC postseason berth last weekend as the Trailblazers closed the 2019 regular season with two more victories. DSU opened the weekend with that 2-0 road result at Westminster, before the Blazers extended their regular season-ending win streak to four-straight with a dramatic 3-1 triumph over Colorado Christian on Senior Day Sunday at Trailblazer Stadium. DSU broke a 1-1 deadlock with two goals in the final two minutes of regulation time to claim the home victory.

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: Sunday's win vs. CCU on Sunday was Dixie State's 10th win of the season, which marked the fourth time in the last five years overall that the Trailblazers have won 10 or more matches in one season ... DSU won a program-record 15 matches in 2016 (15-4-0), which was the season that the Blazers' went a perfect 13-0-0 in Pacific West Conference play en route to their first league title and the program's first (and only) NCAA postseason appearance ... DSU also won 12 games in Head Coach Jonny Broadhead's first year in 2017 (12-5-0), and recorded its first double-digit winning season at 10-2-4 in 2015, coincidentally with former DSU coach and current Westminster head coach Josh Pittman at the helm.
    Dixie State's win at Westminster last Friday was the Blazers' record-breaking seventh road win of the season (7-2-0), eclipsing the previous record of six (6-3-0) set during the 2016 campaign.
    Senior forward Moises Medina tallied his third-straight game-winning goal and assisted on sophomore Cole Shaffer's first collegiate score in DSU's road win at Westminster last Friday ... Medina was named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week back on Oct. 4 after he netted three goals, including two game-winners, in the road sweep of Adams State (10/25) and CSU-Pueblo (10/27) ... Medina enters the RMAC tourney as DSU's career leader in goals (32), GWG (14), assists (22) and points (86, 32G/22A) and owns a combined 16 DSU match, season and career records ... in addition, when the senior takes the field in Thursday's match vs. Westminster, he will pull into a tie atop DSU's career matches played list with former DSU players Tyler Walters (69, 2010-13) and Zac Hales (69, 2008-11)
    Medina closed the 2019 regular season as the RMAC leader in GWG (6), t-first in goals (9), second in points (24) and t-seventh in assists (6) ... all nine of Medina's goals in 2019 have come in his last 13 matches, including his school record third-career hat trick in DSU's 5-2 result vs. MSU Denver (9/22) ... Medina's other two hat tricks came during his sophomore season in 2017 (at UCCS 9/11/17, vs. Point Loma 10/21/17).
    Freshman Logan Beus also pulled into a tie for seventh with Medina in the RMAC in assists (6) after he played a corner kick to fellow freshman Julian Herrera, who headed in his first collegiate goal for the game-winner vs. CCU on Sunday ... Beus also dished out two dimes on a pair of Idris Alabi goals two weekends ago at ASU and CSU-P ... Alabi got into the assist act on DSU's final regular season goal on Sunday when he played a breakaway ball to freshman John Joseph for his sixth goal of the season with 1:12 to play.
    Not to be outdone, Joseph collected his second assist of the year earlier in that match on sophomore Daniel Brubaker's first goal of the year at the 15:17 mark vs. CCU ... in fact, you could say there is equal distribution in goals and assists (29 assists total on 33 goals) on this year's club as 11 different players have at least one dime, including freshman AJ Abbadessa with his first collegiate point on the Medina GWG at Westminster last Friday ... additionally, 12 different players have also scored goals through 18 matches as well ... 15 of DSU's 33 goals have been scored by freshmen, with Guglielmo Bianchi (6 goals) tied with Joseph for second on the club.
     Senior netminder Zach Nielson collected career wins #30 and #31 over the weekend to pad his record-setting win total ... ten (#3 all-time in DSU history) of his 31 wins have come via shutout, including his third clean sheet of the year at Westminster last Friday ... Nielson has 223 career saves to his credit over his four years at DSU and he is just the second GK in program history with 200-plus career saves (Tyler Walters, 298, 2010-13) ... Nielson stopped a career-high 10 shots in the FLC road win (10/6), which 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 ... Nielson is currently second in the RMAC in saves (91 - 5th-nationally) and fourth in saves/match (5.06 spm - 34th-nationally) ... Dixie State is also ranked 27th in the country in save percentage (.798) and is tied for 43rd-nationally in saves/match (5.06 spm).

UP NEXT: The RMAC Championship match will be played next weekend (day and time TBA) on the home pitch of the highest remaining seed. The winner of that match earning the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA South Central Regionals, which will be held Nov. 22-24 (site TBA).