Trailblazers men's soccer started Western Athletic Conference league play Saturday evening with a 2-1 loss to Utah Valley.
WHAT HEAD COACH JONNY BROADHEAD SAID: "Definitely a tough loss to swallow when you lose the lead. I thought our team did a great job in the first half with our game plan and goals have been hard to come by so it's great to see us get one from a set piece. We just couldn't seem to continue in the second half what we were doing in the first half and it forced us to defend a lot in the second half. Our GK made some very nice saves when we needed him to, but we need learn how to keep the foot on the gas a bit when we have the lead. Credit to Utah Valley for how they are playing right now, but I am still confident our guys can build from a performance like this and take it into next weekend."
HOW IT HAPPENED: As the game kicked off there was intensity on both sides of the ball. Utah Valley got the first shot of the game just four minutes in but
Levi Lord notched the save.
UVU had four more shots in the first half but were unable to find the back of the net.
Dixie State got on the scoresheet first following some chaos in the Utah Valley box. Larsen Rogers completed the deep flip throw-in and found Traedon Chamberlain in the box. After getting a pass off to Daniel Brubaker, Brubaker skimmed the ball past UVU's goalkeeper for the opening goal of the game. This was Brubaker's second goal of the season.
The rest of the half was physical on both sides of the ball with end to end action but DSU held the lead into the halftime break.
Out of the half the intensity increased. The Wolverines thought they had equalized just seven minutes into the half but the goal was called back for offside. UVU's bench was shown yellow for dissent after the call.
Lord stood on his head in the middle of the second half to keep Utah Valley off the scoresheet. He had back-to-back saves and pushed a shot off the crossbar in the 64th minute.
Later in the 80th minute, Utah Valley was able to notch its second goal of the game to take the 2-1 lead with just 10 minutes remaining. The Blazers weren't able to answer and the Wolverines walked away with the win.
STAT BREAKDOWN: Niko Shumov,
Larsen Rogers and
Daniel Brubaker each fired off one shot. Brubaker's goal and Rogers shot were on frame.
Levi Lord was in the net for the Trailblazers and played the full 90 minutes. He came away with eight hard fought saves.
Dixie State ended the game with 3 total shots and two on goal while Utah Valley ended with 18 total shots and 12 on goal.
NOTES TO KNOW: Dixie State is now 1-8-0 overall on the season.
UP NEXT: The Trailblazers will hit the road again to take on San Jose State, Oct. 1 and Seattle U on Oct. 3 before returning to Greater Zion Stadium to host Chicago State Oct. 10 and Houston Baptist on Oct 10.
