Women's Soccer | 8/28/2024 4:15:00 PM

Who | Westminster (0-0) at Utah Tech (1-0-2)
When | Friday, Aug. 30 – 7 p.m.
Where | Greater Zion Stadium - St. George
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

Getting Ready for Kickoff: Utah Tech enters Friday's contest with a 1-0-2 overall record and is coming off a 1-0-1 weekend at home last week defeating UNLV, 3-2 on Thursday and tying Omaha, 0-0 on Sunday.

Fox and Frey Earn WAC Weekly Honors: Junior forward Lacy Fox earned WAC Offensive Player of the Week honors after she recorded a second-half hat trick in Utah Tech's 3-2 come-from-behind victory over UNLV last Thursday night.

Fox scored all three goals of the Trailblazers goals in a span of 12:55 in the stanza, which was the second-fastest hat trick in the program's NCAA era.

The Highland, Utah native also became just the eighth different player in the program's four-year era to record a hat trick, and is the second Trailblazer to do it since Utah Tech moved to Division I status. She is also the sixth player in program history with a hat trick to score all three goals in one half. 
 
Junior goaltender Brianna Frey was also tabbed the WAC Goalkeeper of the Week. The Salt Lake City native had herself a pretty good start to the Blazers' homestand as she went 1-0-1 in two starts in goal last week and surrendered only two goals in 180 minutes.

She made three saves and allowed two goals in the win over UNLV, then followed that up with four saves in 90 minutes in the Sunday scoreless draw with Omaha.

RANKED!: For the first time in the Division I era, the Trailblazers are ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Pacific Region poll checking in ninth.

With seven Mountain West teams in the poll, the WAC has three representatives with Utah Valley being No. 2 and Grand Canyon at No. 3.

WAC Leaders: Fox enters the week in a three-way tie for second in the WAC in goals (3), ranks second in goals per game (1.00) and is fourth in points (6).

Freshman defender Adele Faller is tied for third in assists (2) while Frey ranks fifth in saves per game (4.33).

Look at Westminster: Coming off a 7-9-3 overall record in 2023, the Griffins finished eighth in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last season posting a 4-6-2 mark. Westminster knocked off top-seeded UCCS in the RMAC Tournament before falling to Colorado Mesa.

The Griffins got exhibition action started at Salt Lake Community College on Aug. 17 and Westminster was picked seventh in the 13-team RMAC Preseason poll released on Wednesday.

Bringing back one of their top two leading scorers from a season ago, senior midfielder Necie Gubler had a team-leading four assists to go along with four goals for 12 points.

Sophomore goalkeeper Brighton Jakeman saw action in nine contests in 2023 and made six starts allowing only five goals.

Series vs. Westminster: Former RMAC foe Westminster and the Trailblazers have met six times in program history in the NCAA era.

Utah Tech leads the series, 4-1-1 with a 2-0-1 record at home and a 2-1-0 mark on the road. The two team's last meeting came in St. George in 2019 that saw a 1-1 draw.

New and Familiar Faces: Along with adding 14 new players to the roster during the offseason, the Trailblazer squad will also see 23 returning players from last season. The new class in St. George includes Gonzaga transfer Kyah Le, Colorado Northwestern Community College transfer Cadie Young, Utah State transfer Heidi Wilstead, Abilene Christian transfer Lox Neves, and 10 true freshmen.

The class includes six forwards (Wilstead, Neves along with Emily Blanchard, Ella Cotter, Lataya Brostand Lexi Nelson), four midfielders (Le and Young along with Bre Koscielski and Jenna McDonnell), three defenders (Ali Warner, Adele Faller, Allison Flies), and one goalkeeper (Emma McIff).

Exhibition Play: Utah Tech went undefeated in their two exhibition matches against USU-Eastern and Snow College at home prior to the start of the regular season. The Trailblazers notched a 6-0 victory over the Eagles on Aug. 8 and a 2-0 win over the Badgers on Aug. 10.

Up Next: Utah Tech heads out on the road to start the month of September next week heading to Northern Arizona (0-1-1) on Sept. 5 and Arizona State (2-0-2) on Sept. 8.