Opening Touch: Utah Tech men's soccer returns to action after their first win of the season. The Trailblazer saw a 1-0 win on the road at CSU Bakersfield following a 16th minute
Larsen Rogers goal. The Trailblazers face Santa Clara and Sacramento State inside Greater Zion Stadium.
Opponent history: The Trailblazers have faced Santa Clara one time in institution history and suffered a 2-0 loss. That match was Sept. 19 in Santa Clara, CA.
The Trailblazers have never faced Sacramento State.
Know Your Foe: Santa Clara comes into Greater Zion Stadium with a 1-2-1 record. The Broncos single win of the year came at Grand Canyon by a 2-0 scoreline. Prior to that match the Broncos had not scored a goal.
Sacramento State is 4-1-1 on the season with wins over Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary's and San Jose State. The Hornets have one just one road match on the season. The team has allowed at least one goal in each match played.
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. Utah Tech University is in it's third year of a four year transitionary period into Division I and the Western Athletic Conference.
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.
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.
Coaching Staff: Jonny Broadhead (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2004) is in his seventh season as Utah Tech head coach. Broadhead has a 38-44-4 overall record at Utah Tech.
Team Notes: 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.
The Trailblazers have scored two goal this season. The first coming from forward
Taylor Rogers. The goal, caused by mistimed pass after a heavy press on a disheveled Marquette back line found the ball at Rogers' feet, was the freshman's first goal of his collegiate career.
Larsen Rogers scored the team's second goal in the 1-0 win over CSU Bakersfield after
Tyson Nguyen sent a long ball over the top to
Kyle Walbruch. Walbruch then slotted the ball towards Rogers who set up the ball on his left foot and hit a powerful shot past the Bakersfield goalkeeper.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Jacob Zimmerman heads into this weeks matches having earned his first shutout of the season against Santa Clara. The sophomore had one shutout in four appearances in the 2021 season.
Up Next: Utah Tech will head back on the road for two matches as a final tune-up for conference play. The Trailblazers will take on Gonzaga on Sept. 23 at 8 pm (MT) and Portland on Sept. 25 also at 8 pm (MT). The team will then return home for the conference opener versus Grand Canyon on Sept. 30 at 7:30 pm in Greater Zion Stadium.
