Utah Tech men's soccer opened up conference play with a 2-1 win following two first half goals.

HOW IT HAPPENED: From the opening whistle it was a tense, chippy match between these two sides. With three fouls in the opening 10 minutes of play, both teams were looking to gain a physical edge and get started out on the front foot.

Just 11 minutes into the match, Oliver Stone intercepted the ball in the midfield. Stone turned and slid the ball into an onrushing Carlos Vargas who got the ball ahead of the last defender and dribbled around the Lopes goalkeeper. Once clear of the goalkeeper Vargas had a well-placed shot to the near post for the opening goal. This was Vargas' first start and goal of the season.

The second half continued to be a battle as Grand Canyon fought for an equalizer. The Lopes had two shots but goalkeeper Jacob Zimmerman stood on his head to preserve the Blazers lead.

In the 37th minute, Gavin Coe doubled the Trailblazers lead. After Dunes Nielsen slalomed around some defenders, he got a pass off to Guglielmo Bianchi who laid the ball off to Coe. Coe took a touch with his right foot to turn himself around and took a one-time shot into the far post for the second goal.

Headed to the halftime break, the Trailblazers held the 2-0 lead.

Out of the break, the Trailblazers continued to deal with a heavy press from a Lopes side looking for a goal.

After a slew of shots, in the 60th minute, Grand Canyon broke through. Off a cross from wide an unmarked Cameron Weller was able to send home the shot past Zimmerman.

Through the final half hour of play the Lopes continued their heavy pressing looking for an equalizer but to know avail. The Trailblazer defense remained locked down against everything the Lopes could throw at them.

At the end of 90 minutes Utah Tech handed the Lopes just their third conference loss since the 2020 season by a 2-1 score inside Greater Zion Stadium. 

STAT BREAKDOWN:  The Trailblazers had five shots with five on goal. Gavin Coe led the team with two shots. Kyle Walbruch, Carlos Vargas and Taylor Rogers each had one apiece. Both goalscorers 

Jacob Zimmerman started and played the full 90 minutes in goal, making four saves on the night.

Grand Canyon ended the match with seven shots, having five on goal. The team was shown one yellow card and their goalkeeper made three saves.

NOTES TO KNOW: The Trailblazers have a 3-6-0 record on the season and a 1-0-0 record in WAC play. This is the Trailblazers first home win of the season.

Two Trailblazers were shown yellow in this match, No. 14 Julian Herrera in the 37th minute for a foul and Nathan Martinez in the 72nd minute.

UP NEXT: Utah Tech will face Air Force on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. inside Greater Zion Stadium before heading back out on the road for two Texas matchups with UTRGV and Houston Christian on Oct. 7th and 9th, respectively.