(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (10-3-4/8-2-3 RMAC) will make its second conference postseason tournament appearance in as many years this weekend as the Trailblazers head to Golden, Colo., for the 2019 RMAC Tournament. DSU enters the tourney as the No. 3 seed and will open play on Friday against No. 6 seed MSU Denver (10-6-2/8-4-2 RMAC) at 2:30 p.m., on the home pitch of host Colorado School of Mines.
    The DSU/MSUD winner will then move on to the RMAC Tournament semifinal round to face either second-seeded No. 16 Mines or seventh-seed Fort Lewis this Sunday, Nov. 10, at 12 noon in Golden.
    The DSU/MSUD match is one of four RMAC Quarterfinal matches to be played on Friday, which includes the Mines vs. FLC match, which will take place at 12 noon in Golden. The two other quarterfinal matches will be played in Colorado Springs featuring top-seed and No. 1-ranked UCCS hosting the eighth-seed CSU-Pueblo at 4 p.m., and fourth-seed Westminster College facing fifth-seed Regis at 6:30 p.m. The winner of those two matches will play Sunday at 12 noon in Colorado Springs.
    The RMAC Championship match will be played next weekend (day and time TBA) on the home pitch of the highest remaining seed.
    Live stats and streaming video information for DSU's RMAC tournament run can be found at HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. MSU DENVER: Dixie State and MSUD will meet for the second-straight time in the RMAC tourney quarterfinal round when the two teams take to the pitch on Friday afternoon. Last season at Trailblazer Stadium, DSU posted a 2-1 victory (10/30/18) over the Roadrunners to advance to the semifinals.
    Overall, the Trailblazers are 2-0-1 all-time in their brief series with MSUD, with both wins coming at home last season, including a 1-0 result (9/28/18) in the first-ever meeting between the programs when the Roadrunners came to Trailblazer Stadium ranked 13th in the country. In addition, both sides battled to a scoreless draw earlier this season (10/4/19) in Denver.

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 10-3-4 at Dixie State/41-49-16 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 extended its unbeaten streak to six-straight on the strength of a pair of shutout results last weekend in Grand Junction. The Blazers began the trip with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Colorado Mesa in a match that saw DSU win the match on a Maverick "own goal" with 9:22 to play in regulation time.
    The Trailblazers then closed the 2019 regular season with their fourth-straight win, a 4-0 triumph over Western Colorado on CMU's home pitch. Junior MF Kelsey Cook scored twice, while senior Kamie Hunter added a big second half insurance goal, and DSU was gifted another "own goal" with 17 seconds remaining that provided the final margin of 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). 

NATIONAL/REGIONAL RANKINGS: Dixie State moved up to No. 5 in the second official NCAA Division II women's soccer South Central regional rankings released on Wednesday. DSU is also vaulted to No. 4 in the latest United Soccer Coaches South Central Regional poll, and the Trailblazers are just out of the top-25 at No. 26 in this week's USC national poll.

JOHNS AND COOK HIGHLIGHT LIST OF SIX TO EARN ALL-RMAC HONORS: Sophomore forward Whitley Johns was voted to the All-RMAC first team for the second-straight season, while junior midfielder Kelsey Cook was named to the conference's second team, as the 2019 RMAC postseason awards were handed out on Tuesday. In addition, four more players received honorable mention recognition, including seniors Kilee Allsop and Alexa Ashton, and juniors Adelle Brown and Sophie Stewart.
    Johns finished the regular season ranked in the top-10 in seven RMAC statistical categories overall. The sophomore is currently t-second in the conference in goals (10) and goals per game (0.59), t-third in shots (54), fourth in points (23) and shots per game (3.18), t-fourth in game-winning goals (3), and fifth in points per game (1.35).
    Johns, who was voted RMAC Freshman of the Year last season, has scored at least one goal in four of her last eight matches overall with one two-goal outing and her third-career hat trick in a 10-1 home win over New Mexico Highlands back on Oct. 25, which helped her earn RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors (10/29). Johns has scored goals in seven of DSU's 17 matches to this point of the season, and the Trailblazers are 6-0-1 in those outings. The sophomore enters the weekend in solo fifth place on DSU's career goals list (22), fourth in career GWG (10) and sixth in career points (50; 22g/6a).
    Cook came on strong in the second half of the RMAC season as the junior scored six of her eight goals and collected five of her RMAC co-leading nine assists in DSU's last nine matches. Cook scored a pair of goals in a home win vs. Colorado Christian (5-1, 10/11) and found the back of the net two more times in last Sunday's 4-0 result vs. WCU. Cook ended the regular season second the RMAC in assists per game (0.53), tied for second in points (25) and points per game (1.47), and t-fifth overall in goals scored.
    Allsop and Ashton has anchored a Trailblazer defensive back field that has surrendered only 15 goals in 17 matches with seven shutout results, and has held opponents to only 9.8 shots (4.3 on goal) per game. Allsop has also scored one goal and assisted on six others, while Ashton has tallied four goals on the year.
    Brown has been outstanding in goal after becoming the full-time starting goalkeeper midway through the year. The junior owns a 0.62 GAA and has surrender just six goals with 31 saves and three solo clean sheets in over 864 minutes between the pipes. Stewart has tallied two of her three goals and recorded both of her assists in RMAC play, highlighted by a three-point performance with a goal and an assist in a 5-0 road win at Adams State (10/18).  

PERFECT 10 AND/OR SWEET 16: Dixie State combined to score 16 goals in wins over NMHU (10/25) and CSU-P (10/27) to close out its 2019 home slate, including a single-match record tying 10 goals in the NMHU triumph, 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.

ON OUR "OWN": Dixie State was the beneficiary of two "own goals" last weekend in Grand Junction, including the lone goal of the match in its 1-0 win over CMU in Friday's tilt. DSU's final goal of the season was also an own goal on a WCU defensive miscue on a Blazer corner kick.
    That goal served as the second book-end on the Blazers' offensive season as Dixie State's first goal of the 2019 campaign came on a Cal State San Bernardino own goal (9/5) in a match DSU won by a 6-1 count. 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).

TEAM NOTES: Dixie State wrapped up its 2019 season with 10 regular season victories, which marked the sixth-straight season and the 10th season in the program's NCAA-era that the Trailblazers have reached double digits in wins ... seven of those 10 wins this season came at home (7-1-1), and DSU has won 13 of its last 15 home matches overall since the start of the 2018 season.
    Dixie State played in its 250th NCAA match when the Blazers took the field vs. CSU-P back on Oct. 27 ... the Trailblazers are now 147-89-16 all-time (.615) since joining the NCAA ranks in 2006.
    Dixie State has scored five or more goals five times this season, including a six-goal outing in the season opener vs. CSUSB (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 49-15 through 17 matches this season ... the 49 goals to this point of the season are fourth-most in the program's NCAA era, and are the most since the Blazers netted 53 goals in 2009 ... the school record for goals in a season is 55, which was set in 2007 ... DSU's 30 assists and 128 total points are also good for fifth place on those respective season top-10 program lists.
    In all, 14 different Trailblazers have accounted for 46 of DSU's 49 total goals scored ... senior Kamie Hunter netted her second-career goal midway through the second half in the WCU match last Sunday ... Hunter's goal on Sunday came 54 matches after her first collegiate goal, which was a game-winner in DSU's 2-0 home win over Academy of Art on Oct. 22, 2016.
    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).  
    Brown tied DSU's NCAA-era single match record for saves with 10 in the CSU-P win (10/27), 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 third solo clean sheet in a DSU kit and made one save in the CMU win last Friday, then played 61-plus minutes and only faced one total shot vs. WCU on Sunday ... Brown has now played enough minutes (864:23) in goal this season to have her current 0.62 GAA qualify for DSU single-season rankings (currently No. 2 all-time) ... DSU's defense has utilized five goalkeepers this year and the unit owns a combined 0.84 GAA, which is good for fourth in the RMAC.

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).