(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (2-1-1/0-0-0 RMAC) kicks off its final season of RMAC play with a three-match homestand, beginning with a date vs. in-state rival Westminster College at Trailblazer Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 22. Kick-off is slated for 1:30 p.m.
    Live stats and video information for Sunday's match can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT: Dixie State is 4-1-0 all-time in its series vs. Westminster College and had won the first four meetings with the Griffins overall. However that streak was halted last season after DSU dropped a hard-fought 1-0 result in Salt Lake City (9/16/18) in the first RMAC match played between the two sides.
    Three of DSU's four wins in the series have come via shutout, including a 1-0 win in Salt Lake City during the 2016 season (9/13/16), while the Trailblazers erupted for eight goals in an 8-2 result the last time the two teams met in St. George (9/15/17). The two sides also met twice in the 2006, the first time coming in Dixie State first-ever NCAA match, a 5-0 DSU triumph in Salt Lake City (8/26). The Trailblazers also posted a 9-0 home win (10/28) to close out that first season.

COACHING STAFF: Steve Golas (Coe College, 1998; 2-1-1 at Dixie State/33-47-13 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 closed out its 2019 non-conference slate with a tough 0-1-1 road trip to southern California last weekend against two former Pacific West Conference rivals. DSU began the trip with a 2-0 loss at Point Loma on Sept. 12, in a match that saw the Sea Lions net two late goals (75', 78') to claim the result. Then last Saturday at Concordia-Irvine, the Trailblazers rallied with two second half goals (54', 76') to take a 2-1 lead, only to see the Eagles punch in the equalizer (84') late in regulation to force overtime. Both sides played to a scoreless stalemate in both OT sessions as the matched ended in a 2-2 draw.

2019 TEAM NOTES: Dixie State ran its home pitch winning streak to six-straight with its two wins to open the 2019 season and has won eight of its last nine since at Trailblazer Stadium since the start of last season ... DSU also moved to 8-3-3 all-time in both season openers and home openers in now 13-plus seasons of NCAA play ... DSU has also won four-straight home openers and three-straight season openers overall ... the Trailblazers' six goals vs. CSUSB (9/5; W, 6-1) were the most goals scored in a season-opening match in the program's NCAA era and eclipsed the previous high of five goals set in DSU's first-ever NCAA match, a 5-0 result at Westminster College on Aug. 26, 2006.
    Nine different Trailblazers have accounted for all 10 goals scored through their first four matches of the year, which also includes an own goal that opened the scoring vs. CSUSB (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 10-6 through four matches overall.
    Sophomore forward Whitley Johns collected her second assist of the season on DSU's go-ahead goal at CUI last Saturday, which came off the boot of junior MF Kelsey Cook ... the duo co-leads the team in both points (4) and assists (2) ... junior D Jill Bennett netted her first goal of the year nine-plus minutes into the second at CUI, and joins Johns and Cook as the only three players who have both a goal and an assist in the early going.
    Sophomore goalkeeper Chandler Greenwood collected nine of her 10 saves on the young season last weekend on the SoCal trip and owns a 1.35 GAA through four starts ... senior GK Nicole Rahman came off the bench in both matches last weekend and logged 40-plus minutes with three saves.
    Dixie State's 2OT draw at CUI last Saturday snapped a stretch of 92-straight matches over a span of five-plus seasons that DSU did not have a match end in a tie ... the last instance that Dixie State posted a draw came in the season opener of the 2014 season at home vs. Chico State (1-1; 9/4/14).

UP NEXT: Dixie State continues its homestand next weekend against Regis on Friday, Sept. 27, and Black Hills State on Sunday, Sept. 29.