On Aug. 17, 2023, the WAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' poll was announced. With a total of 10 points, Utah Tech was picked to finish ninth, in last place. 

On Nov. 5, 2023, Utah Tech entered the WAC Men's Soccer Tournament as the No. 3 seed with a 9-9 record and three All-WAC honorees. The Trailblazers defeated San Jose State in that quarterfinal matchup to advance to the semifinal round.
 
What a year 2023 was.
 
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With a 4-12-2 record in 2022, it took mere days for the Trailblazers to find the first win of 2023, defeating St. Mary's, 2-1, in the second game of the season after dropping the season opener to San Francisco. AJ Ciampini finished that win with two shots on goal and was part of the play that resulted in the game-tying goal before Jimi Villasenor scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 35^th minute. 
 
Stockton Short made eight saves across the opening two games as he and Ciampini were named TicketSmarter WAC Players of the Week on Aug. 29, the first rendition of the weekly awards in the season.
 
"I think every single player, us coaches as well, left the San Francisco game thinking there was something different about this group, just the way we bought in and put some things together. To call it a 180-degree difference from last year's season opener doesn't even begin to describe it," Head Coach Jonny Broadhead said. "30 seconds into the game, St. Mary's scored exactly how we told the guys they're capable of scoring, and then the doubt creeps in. You wonder if maybe you're not there yet still and if this is going to be really hard. 
 
"But something clicked when we kicked off after that goal, and I give the guys credit… when we got scored on, we reflected on what did against San Francisco and realized we'd be alright if we just fought like we did against USF," Broadhead added. "That's where I saw the team's mentality and realized this group was different."
 
Though Utah Tech would control the next game against Sacramento State, out-shooting the Hornets 21-9 (9-3 on goal), a 1-0 loss ensued. As they would throughout the season, Coach Broadhead's Trailblazers responded, however, dominating Lindenwood in a 3-0 road victory in the team's next contest.
 
The team posted its first of four clean sheets on the season and saw the breakout of a player who would prove to be a lynchpin for the remainder of the season. Making his collegiate debut against the Lions, Austin Wallace scored goals in the 52^nd and 75^thminutes, finishing with two shots in 42 minutes played. Bryce Backlund added the final score five minutes after Wallace's second to finish with one goal and one assist.
 
"Austin came on the trip because he had earned it even though he hadn't played in a game before that. Sure, he was Gatorade Player of the Year in Utah and I knew he was fully capable, but he was coming off his mission so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect right away," Broadhead said. "He did well during the preseason, but initially I thought there was no way he could be ready - he literally had just gotten back. 
 
"Nobody knew who he was – not even our own team – but I had an inkling that if we gave him a chance, he might do something special and that's exactly what happened."
 
After another loss to CSU Bakersfield, UT responded yet again, using goals from Julian Herrera and Wallace to close a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Gonzaga in the next game, bringing the team's overall record to 3-3 with just one weekend of non-conference play remaining.
 
Much like the previous weekends, Utah Tech split its final two games against non-WAC opponents, falling to No. 21 San Diego State before downing the Tritons of UC San Diego, 2-1, in yet another come-from-behind victory. Sami Cuevas opened his account as a Trailblazer with a goal in the 61^st minute before Jimi Villasenor netted the winner off a Damian Arguello assist in the 87^th.
 
"My message to the team ahead of that UC San Diego game was to just keep buying into to what we're trying to do because we played quite well in between the boxes against SDSU," Broadhead said. "We moved the ball and there were things that we were working on in training that we started to see that had us thinking we could find some success.
 
"We played UCSD on the road last year but went down a goal and had a red card in the first half, forcing us to play the entire second half down a man and down a goal, so we knew going back there we couldn't let this one go," Broadhead added. "We stuck to what we were working on at training and it worked out, Sami and Jimi both getting goals – we were so much better in the second half."
 
This idea of "down a man, down a goal" has come to define the mentality of this program. For the players, it's all about locking in and fighting as hard as possible to get back in the game.
 
"Down a man, down a goal means to give 110% regardless of the situation that the team may be in – there's always a chance to win no matter the circumstances," Short said. "It gives a little extra motivation to play as hard as you would be if you were down a goal and down a man."
 
"That phrase puts me into a different mindset that requires a lot more focus and composure," Herrera added. "It means it's time to dig deep. We weren't in an ideal place in the game when that phrase was first said and we knew it was going to take all of us to buy in in order to get back."
 
The momentum of that late victory over UC San Diego was huge, setting the stage for a nice little winning streak. After a Cuevas goal sealed a 1-0 road victory over UTRGV in the opening weekend of conference play, Short was once again named WAC Goalkeeper of the Week on Oct. 3, posting five saves in the shutout win.
 
Having won two-straight, it was time for a home matchup against in-state rivals Utah Valley, a team that Utah Tech had yet to defeat.
 
Though the Wolverines took a lead 33 minutes in off a free kick, the Trailblazer freshmen struck again, as Wallace leveled the game with a headed effort in the 73^rd minute before Cuevas took a Miguel Regino feed and finished at the far post with less than five minutes remaining in the game to seal a 2-1 victory. 
 
The result was Utah Tech's first win over UVU while marking the second time in the year that the Trailblazers had defeated an opponent for the first time in program history.
  
"The losses stay with me a lot more than the wins cause me to celebrate but that one was special because of what it meant to the guys – it was about as good as a coach can feel with what he does for his job," Coach Broadhead said. "I think we had a little bit of an emotional hangover with the emotions from that win but even then, how our guys responded to that game showed the growth of this team. We weren't getting so high after a win or so low after a loss… the expectation had changed."
 
At that point, Cuevas had scored in three-straight games, providing a spark for a Trailblazer offense in need of a goalscoring threat. 
 
"The game winner against UTRGV, it kind of came out of nowhere. The UVU game winner was the same. Ultimately, we realized that he can find a way to score and get us in the game when things aren't going well offensively," Coach Broadhead said. "I knew there was something special in Sami and that if I gave him enough time, he would find a goal and finally figure it out. 
 
"We need goal scorers in this program and I think we've got one in Sami."
 
A pair of losses to San Jose State and UNLV came in the next two contests, but Utah Tech responded, starting at home against an Air Force squad that once again the team had yet to defeat. After the Falcons tied the game at two in the 58^thminute, Angel Saldana scored a late winner in the 84^th minute to seal a 3-2 win, the first victory over AFA in four total tries.
 
That momentum was carried into the team's next game against Grand Canyon, which finished as a 1-0 victory. Two of UT's five players from Arizona linked up for the goal, as Jerod Allen found a darting Backlund who finished from the middle of the box in the 67^th minute. The victory was win number eight on the year, as the Trailblazers had an 8-6 record with two games remaining in the regular season.
 
Despite losses to California Baptist and a 12^th ranked Seattle U side that earned an at-large bid into the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Utah Tech finished its regular season with an 8-8 overall record, finishing 4-4 against WAC teams and entering the team's first appearance in the WAC Men's Soccer Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
 
When reflecting on a strong regular season that came on the heels of a last-place finish in the preseason coaches' poll, Coach Broadhead is sure to note that he believes it was never indicative of the quality of the Trailblazer program – but that it was still used as motivation late in the season. 
 
"I'll give the other WAC coaches more credit than thinking we were the last place team. We talk all the time and it wasn't that we were a bad program, more of a question about how good we could be with all the challenges in front of us," Broadhead said. "None of our guys really mentioned it early in the year but it did come up late in the year. 
 
"I think it was Abigay Gomez during a training session, maybe after a game. But he shouted out 'they freaking picked us last you know,' and you could hear the emotion in his voice," Coach Broadhead added. "When you know the emotion is behind your players, and there's something to it, that's the best thing you can have as a coach."
 
Then, more firsts in the program's Division-I history: Utah Tech used another Wallace goal in the 26^th minute and strong defensive effort to defeat the Spartans, 1-0, for the first time in program history, avenging a loss earlier in the season while securing its first Division-I postseason victory in the process.
 
"That San Jose game was a complete revenge game. I held on to the feeling of them taking a picture in front of our scoreboard and celebrating on our home field, hoping for another shot at them in conference tournament," Short said. "When the schedule came out, I had no doubt that we were going to win that one.
 
"It was pure satisfaction to come out on top the second time, especially because it was a more important game," Short added. "It was nice to be the team celebrating rather than the team going home, and it also meant a lot that we were able to get this school's first tournament win."
 
With the quarterfinal victory, Utah Tech men's soccer also became the first team in Trailblazer Athletics' Division-I history to advance to the semifinal round of its respective WAC Tournament. 
 
"Seeing all the joy on the guys' faces, they could not wait to go over to that other sideline. Friends, family, everyone just wanting to congratulate us, it was unbelievable," Coach Broadhead said. "It's the same feeling I get when I watch our guys graduate. We've got guys working on their master's degrees, one who will be the first in his family to graduate from college, it's unbeatable."
 
For Herrera, who captained the team in his fifth season, the WAC Tournament win brought a sense of pride.
 
"I felt so many different emotions but more than anything I was just proud. I was proud of my team and proud of the program… I knew every guy could see that their hard work had paid off and it was just such a huge step in the right direction," Herrera said. "Seeing all the young players on our team show so much passion and overall hunger to be great allows me to end my career with a smile because I know the team is in good hands."
 
Utah Tech fell, 2-0, to California Baptist in the semifinal round. The Lancers would go on to win the WAC Tournament with a 2-1 victory over UNLV before defeating the University of San Diego in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, but Coach Broadhead did note that teams in the WAC took notice of the run this season.
 
"I had one coach at the tournament tell me there was one team he didn't want to play in the final, and that was us, because he just didn't know how to game plan for us – we have the ability to win in so many different ways," Broadhead said.
 
When all was said and done, Utah Tech had three All-WAC selections as Ciampini earned Second Team honors while Cuevas and Wallace both landed on the All-Freshman team.
 
One look at the final statistics tells a story of massive improvements across the board from the previous year.
 
The offense doubled its goal scoring when compared with 2022, finding the net 18 times in 2023 after scoring just nine goals the previous season. With 5.8 more shots per game, the Trailblazers converted more shots into goals while putting 4.1% more of its shots on frame.
 
Utah Tech took an even bigger leap on the defensive side of the ball.
 
That 2022 squad allowed 2.06 goals per game, 37 in total. Across the 18 games, Utah tech's defense finished with 27 goals allowed, 1.50 per game while holding opponents to fewer shots per game and a smaller number of shots on goal.
 
"As a kid you'd play sports with your friends, maybe race or something like that. Remember when you started losing a bunch? After a while, it's like, 'screw this, I'm getting mad and I'm going to do something about it,'" Coach Broadhead said. "Last year we were so young and had a lot to learn, but this year the guys refused to accept it and they worked so hard… we were sick of losing that race so we did something about it."
 
"Although we were still fairly young this year, I think that guys were able to gain confidence and experience from their time on the field last season and carry it into this year," Short said. "The coaching staff did an excellent job with the freshman class as multiple guys stepped up big-time and played a huge part in our success."
 
All of this improvement came with a number of key minutes being played by younger players. In total, seven underclassmen played at least 400 minutes as Wallace's freshman year ended with a team-leading five goals. In his first season as the team's regular starter, Short started every single contest, making 60 saves across 18 appearances and allowing just 1.26 goals per game while stopping 73.2% of the shots he faced.
 
In the Ratings Power Index (RPI), Utah Tech finished the 2023 season ranking 123^rd, behind WAC foes Seattle U (33), California Baptist (60) and Grand Canyon (83) but ahead of the likes of UNLV (126), San Jose State (135) and Utah Valley (139).
 
When it comes to what makes Coach Broadhead proud about this season, however, it's not just about what happened on the field; it also comes down to how every single player handled themselves throughout the year. 
 
"I've had so many coaches tell me they can't hate our guys at all. With how our guys handled themselves on the field throughout the year, it's been nothing but respect," Broadhead said. "If the other teams don't respect you, who cares? You can win all the trophies in the world but in 20 years, if we we're the team nobody liked, I don't know if that would sit well with me.
 
"To hear those things are being said about a program in which so many people have invested so much time, I don't know of a better reward or trophy," Broadhead added. "Having other coaches and programs respect not just what we do but how we do it, those are the trophies that I want to hang on my mantle forever."
 
…
 
Moving forward, the team recognizes that expectations have changed significantly.
 
As a program writing its own history every single day the players themselves are as motivated as ever to continue building a winning culture that embraces those expectations.
 
"Things were different this year because there was more of a focus and competitive drive brought to the field every day, whether that was in training or games… that comes from the culture that we are building within the program," Herrera said. "The bar is set high and anything lower just won't cut it. When we go out as a team to train every day and there's that drive from everyone to be the best they can be, it rubs off on everyone."
 
"At the end of the semester I met with every one of the players and asked them what they hope to achieve next year. Last year they were talking about a winning record, but almost every single guy this year said they want to win the WAC," Broadhead said. "I've told them all that it just keeps getting harder because we're not the underdog anymore, but with the mentality of this group, I feel like nothing can stop us."