(St. George, Utah – Oct. 15, 2023) Utah Tech women's soccer played Sunday morning, defeating the Abilene Christian Wildcats 3-1 at Greater Zion Stadium. The result improves UT's record to 8-4-5 on the season with one weekend of regular season action remaining.
 
"It was a good day for us – we weren't our best but we did what it took to get the win," Head Coach Lexi Brown said. "We gave up a bad goal early on but it wasn't the first time we've had to fight our way back this season; we did a good job to stay composed and then battle back. To score two goals in the first half really helped us come in with the right mindset for the second half."
 
Though the Trailblazers started the same eleven who defeated Tarleton State 3-1 on Thursday, it would be the visitors who struck first, picking off a pass in the final third and finishing off a rebound after a Bryanna Hofheins save in the third minute take an early lead. That goal would prove to be the only one that ACU scored all game as Utah Tech responded less than five minutes later.
 
After a corner kick and scramble in the box, Tessa Thornton sent a rocket from inside the box to the upper-right hand corner to level the game in the 8^th minute. The goal was the Spokane, Wash., native's third on the season and second in her last four appearances, having scored in a 3-1 victory over SFA last weekend.
 
Thornton's goal provided Utah Tech some early momentum that was capitalized on just 15 minutes later.
 
Off a counterattack, Ella Rusick found her way to the end line and played a ball across the face of goal for a darting Brynlee Rider, whose glancing right-footed touch flew right past the ACU goalkeeper to put the team ahead, 2-1, in the 21^st minute. Sunday's goal was number seven on the year for Rider, who entered the 2023 season with six in her previous three years combined.
 
Though Utah Tech would out-shoot ACU 6-1 in the rest of the first half it would remain 2-1 at the break.
 
It only took 16 minutes of second half play for the Trailblazers to put the nail in the coffin, with Ella Rusick curling her shot from outside the box to the far post for her third of the season and Utah Tech's third of the game. Rusick, orginally from Litchfield Park, Ariz., is now up to three goals and two assists in her freshman campaign.
 
"Rusick really put that ball away brilliantly and she almost had a similar one in the first half," Brown said. "It was great for us to get that security in the second half and then be able to get some of our depth players in."
 
Both teams would find opportunities but not goals over the game's final 30 minutes as it went final 3-1 in favor of Utah Tech.
 
The Trailblazers would out-shoot ACU 18-9 in the game, which included in a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal. Utah Tech took six corner kicks and drew seven fouls while Hofheins finished with three saves in net.
 
Thornton and Rider each recorded four shots as Hofheins and Gracie Knutzen played the full 90 minutes.
 
"I also thought McKinley Barney was in a lot of ways an unsung hero. She played a ton of minutes as an outside back against a really good player in Chayse Thorn who's got 13 goals, top-five in the country," Brown said. "We knew (Barney) was going to have to shut her down and she did so seamlessly throughout the game. I was really proud of the way she played."

Sunday's result extended Utah Tech's unbeaten streak to 10 games, something that has only happened one other time in the program's Division-I history, while the two-consecutive victories offers the team momentum heading into the final weekend of regular season action.
 
"I think we've finally figured out what Utah Tech soccer is all about," Brown said. "The girls have done a great job to understand what we've been asking of them and then executing. I still don't think we're at our best yet which is exactly where you want to be this time of year.
 
"We're heading into a weekend that's going to be really tough but I feel like we're hitting our stride as a team… We learned a lot in those games that we dropped early on but we're playing with confidence which is exactly what we need as we head into the final weekend of conference play," Brown added.
 
The Trailblazers are back in action on the road against Utah Valley (Oct. 19, 6 p.m.) and Seattle U (Oct. 22, 2 p.m.).