The Trailblazers head back out on the road for two matches, one with in-state foe Utah Valley and the second at California Baptist.

Last Season In the WAC: Utah Tech men's soccer finished the 2021 season with a 4-13-1 record, with 2-7-1 in WAC place for a ninth place finish. Utah Tech took wins over UC San Diego, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word and UNLV.

Trailblazers Picked 9th In the WAC: Utah Tech was voted to finish 9th in the WAC men's soccer preseason coaches' poll released on August 17th. Seattle U was picked first with eight first place votes. The Trailblazers did not have any members selected to the 2022 Preseason All-WAC team.

Quick Glance at UT: The Trailblazers return 14 members to this years squad with 17 new freshmen joining the team. Returning are captains Julian Herrera and Larsen Rogers joined by Traedon Chamberlain, Blaine Chambers, Gavin Coe, Jimi Villasenor, Raul Ruiz, AJ Ciampini, Guglielmo Bianchi, Ethan Bell, Adrian Galindo and Niko Shumov.

Through 15 games in the 2022 season all but four members of the 2022 squad have seen playing time. Head coach Jonny Broadhead has found confidence in a freshman heavy squad and allowed nearly everyone to find time on the field.

100TH NCAA WIN: In the Trailblazers' 1-0 win over Gonzaga, the team surpassed the 100 win mark. The Trailblazer's now hold a 101-129-23 record in the Utah Tech NCAA era. 

Know Your Foe: Utah Tech men's soccer will close it's 2022 season road slate with matches at Utah Valley and California Baptist on Oct. 28th and 30th.

Quick Glance at Utah Valley:  Utah Valley comes into the match against the Trailblazers with a 4-7-1 record and on a two-game losing streak. The Wolverines last win came against UTRGV 2-0 at home on Oct. 15. The Wolverines are undefeated at home in the 2022 season.

Utah Valley started off the year with a tough slate of road matches in non-conference play. They were able to draw No. 5 Oregon State 0-0 in Corvallis and find a 2-0 road win at CSUN before opening WAC play. The Wolverines have just two wins in WAC competition.

Quick Glance at California Baptist: California Baptist heads into this match with a 7-5-2 record and just one home loss on the season. The Lancers are on a three-game win streak with wins over Seattle U, San Jose State and Houston Christian.

The Lancers were slated to finish third in the conference in the 2022 preseason poll and had defender Thomas Beecham and forward Bryan Iliohan named to the preseason All-WAC team.  Additionally, the Lancers have the conference leading goalkeeper in GAA, Nolan Premack, spearheading their backline. 

COACHING STAFF: Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004) is in his sixth season as Utah Tech head coach. Broadhead has a 40-51-6 overall record at Utah Tech. He is joined by assistant coach Nick Vorberg who is in his second season with the Trailblazers.

Postseason Tournament Eligibility: As of Summer 2022 the WAC Board of Directors voted as of the 2022-23 season to allow newcomers to the WAC, Tarleton State and Utah Tech, to compete for all conference tournaments. 

GOAL BREAKDOWN:
The Trailblazers have scored eight goals this season. Two have come from forward Taylor Rogers. His first was caused by mistimed pass after a press on a disheveled Marquette backline found the ball at Rogers' feet. The second was a penalty kick goal against Houston Christian on 10/9.

Larsen Rogers scored the team's lone goal in the 1-0 win over CSU Bakersfield after Tyson Nguyen sent a long ball over the top to Kyle Walbruch who slotted the ball on to Rogers who sent it home. His second goal of the season was a penalty kick at Houston Christian.

Niko Shumov scored in the Trailblazers 1-0 win over Gonzaga. Off a setpiece, Shumov sent his left-footed shot past the Gonzaga goalkeeper for his first goal of the season.

Carlos Vargas and Gavin Coe each found their first career goals in the Trailblazers 2-1 win over Grand Canyon. Vargas got the ball ahead of the last defendere and slalomed around the keeper for his goal. Coe's goal came off a touch to turn himself around and a one-time shot to the far post.

Anthony Godinez also found his first career goal off a world-class long distance strike in the 66th minute of the Trailblazers 101 draw at UTRGV on 10/7. 

Kyle Walbruch scored his first career goal against Seattle U in the team's 2-1 loss. The assist came from Dunes Nielsen who slalomed his way around three defenders to lay the ball off to Walbruch who sent it into the back of the net.

GOALKEEPING: Sophomore Jacob Zimmerman has played the majority of the minutes in net for the Trailblazers. Zimmerman is already making his way up the record books for GAA, minutes, shutouts, wins and saves where he is in the top five in institution history in all. 

Up Next: The Trailblazers will return home for the regular season finale with UNLV on Nov. 4th. The Trailblazers will look to beat the Rebels for the second year in a row after a road trip victory closed out the 2021 season.