(MATCH NOTES - PDF)

OPENING TOUCH: Dixie State (2-3-1/1-1-0 RMAC) heads out for a four-match RMAC road swing, which begins Friday afternoon at Regis (3-2-1/2-0-0 RMAC) at 3 p.m., at the Regis Match Pitch in Denver, Colo. Following that match, the Trailblazers will make the short drive to Colorado Springs to face UCCS (1-3-1/0-2-0 RMAC) on Sunday at 1 p.m., at Mountain Lion Stadium. Live stats and streaming video information for both matches can be found HERE.

DIXIE STATE VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Dixie State and Regis first met on the soccer pitch last season at Trailblazer Stadium in a hard-fought match that did not go the Blazers' way as the Rangers claimed a 1-0 road result (9/23/18).
    DSU and UCCS have split the first two matches in their brief series with both sides claiming victory on the other's home field. Dixie State blanked the Mountain Lions in a non-conference tilt in Colorado Springs, 5-0 (9/11/17), while UCCS returned the favor last season in a 3-2 win at Trailblazer Stadium (9/21/18).

COACHING STAFF: Head Coach Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004; 21-17-3 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 opened its final season of RMAC play with a home split last weekend at Trailblazer Stadium. DSU came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 overtime result against in-state rival Westminster College last Friday night in a match that ended with a Griffin PK conversion with 2:40 play in the first extra session.
    The Blazers managed to bounce back in a big way on Sunday with a decisive 5-2 win over MSU Denver. After falling into a 2-0 hole midway through the first half, Dixie State rallied with five unanswered goals, highlighted by the third-career hat trick for senior Moises Medina, to come away with the home split and three points in the RMAC table.

2019 TEAM NOTES: Medina's 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) ... former DSU great Jordan Roylance (2009-12) accounted for the other two hat tricks, both of which came during the 2009 season ... Medina padded his DSU career-record point total (69, 26g/17a) and moved to within two goals of tying Roylance (28 goals) atop the career goals scored list ...  the senior also netted his 10th-career GWG, which moved him to within one of tying Roylance (11) for the top spot on DSU's career list, and he pulled into a tie for eighth place on DSU's career matches played list (56).
    Freshman MF Guglielmo Bianchi collected his second goal of the young season in the closing moments of last Sunday's win vs. MSUD thanks to an impressive two-assist set from sophomores Tony Foulger and Matt Lockwood ... freshman John Joseph headed home his first collegiate goal to get DSU on the board in the 31st minute vs. MSUD thanks to a cross from sophomore Daniel Brubaker.
    Senior netminder Zach Nielson picked up his 23rd-career win in the MSUD result ... Nielson moved past former DSU GK Tyler Walters (21, 2010-13) for the top spot on the program's NCAA-era wins list in the Blazers' 1-0 result at DBU (9/7) ... Nielson, who leads all RMAC GKs in saves (34, 5.67 spg) through six matches, also posted his eighth-career clean sheet in the DBU win, 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 four-match RMAC road trip next weekend with matches at Colorado Mesa on Friday, Oct. 4, and at Fort Lewis on Sunday, Oct. 6.