(St George, UT - Aug 11, 2026) – Utah Tech women's soccer will begin its 2026 regular season with a two-match southern California road trip, beginning Wednesday night against UC Irvine on Aug. 12 at 6 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. MST.
REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 1
Who |
Utah Tech (0-0-0, 0-0-0 Big Sky) at UC Irvine (0-0-0, 0-0-0 Big West)
When | Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 6 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. MST.
Where | Anteater Stadium - Irvine, California
Watch |
ESPN+
Stats |
Live Stats
Social Media |
Instagram -
X - #UtahTechisHere - #BigSkyWSOC
LAST TIME OUT
Trailblazer women's soccer got off to a strong start and defeated UNLV, 3-2 last Thursday night in their lone exhibition match before the 2026 regular season. Utah Tech notched three first half goals from Preseason All-Big Sky selection
Bre Koscielski,
Lataya Brost, and
Gianna Tomasello. Ten Trailblazer substitutions were used in the exhibition, including three separate goalies seeing time. Only two UT players were in the match for all 90 minutes.
A LOOK AT THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine is coming off of a solid 2025 campaign where they went 8-5-7 (5-2-3 Big West), good enough for a 4th place conference finish. Their season came to an end at the Big West Conference Tournament with a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to UC Santa Barbara.
The Anteaters return three All-Big West players, with honorable mentions junior forward Clara Samson and junior defender Hailey Clingan. They are joined by All-Freshman Team forward Fiona Shin. UCI only returns one defender with a career start logged at Irvine, and just one of their top six point scorers from a year ago.
Like Utah Tech, UC Irvine has an exhibition match under their belt as they drew with Arizona last Wednesday, 0-0.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting between the two programs.
UTAH TECH PICKED THIRD IN COACHES' POLL
Utah Tech women's soccer is predicted to finish third (63 points, 1 first place vote) in their inaugural season in the Big Sky Conference Preseason Poll. This marks the second year in a row that UT has been picked to finish 3rd in the conference preseason poll, and ties the program's highest projected finish. The Trailblazers are one of three teams to receive a first place vote.
Weber State (74 points and four 1st place votes) is selected as the preseason favorite and had three athletes selected to the 2026 Preseason All-Big Sky Team. Just behind the Wildcats is Idaho (70 points and three 1st place votes).
TWO TRAILBLAZERS ON 2026 PRESEASON ALL-BIG SKY TEAM
UT landed two players on the 2026 Preseason All-Big Sky Team in
Jocelyn Wright and
Bre Koscielski. This is the second season in a row that Utah Tech has had multiple players selected to the preseason all-conference team, having three selected last year.
Jocelyn had quite the decorative season last year, as she earned the 2025 WAC Freshman of the Year Award, was 2nd team all-WAC, and was named to the 2025 WAC all-freshman team. She led UT in goals (6), and was third in both shots (29) and shots on goal (18) in 2025.
Bre had a solid 2025 campaign coming off her 2024 WAC all-freshman team honors. She set career highs in goals (4), assists (5), shots (26), and shots on goal (10) en route to earning 2nd team all-WAC.
2025 SEASON RECAP
Utah Tech finished the 2025 campaign at 8-7-5 (4-4-2 WAC) good enough for a 3rd place finish with a semifinal defeat in the WAC Tournament semifinal in their final season as members of the Western Athletic Conference. This was the 4th straight conference tournament appearance for UT. The Trailblazers tallied a program-record eight All-WAC Selections and freshman forward
Jocelyn Wright was named the WAC Freshman of the Year.
RETURNING PRODUCTION
The Trailblazers return 16 players from last year's team, including
Jocelyn Wright and
Bre Koscielski who were listed on the 2026 Preseason All-Big Sky Team. All three players named to the 2025 WAC All-Freshman team returned for this season, including
Abby Olsen who also was named to the 2025 All-WAC 1st Team.
NEW TRAILBLAZERS IN TOWN
UT brought in seven high school athletes as a part of their 2026 recruiting class, as well as three athletes via the transfer portal. The Trailblazers welcome student-athletes from three states, including five from Utah.
Salt Lake Community College transfer
Elle Rafajko looks to make an immediate impact as the Trailblazers lose their starting goalie from a year ago to graduation. Rafajko is the reigning back-to-back Scenic West Athletic Conference Goalkeeper, and a 2024 NJCAA Second Team All-American. She posted 8 shutouts with a 0.44 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.
A freshman to watch this year is
CC Malohifo'ou from Saratoga Springs, Utah. CC represents Tonga on its international team, playing in the 2025 U19 Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) World Cup Qualifiers. She logged a hat trick to help the Kingdom secure a spot in the championships. In 2024, Malohifo'ou led Tonga's U16 squad to its first-ever medal, taking bronze in the OFC World Cup Qualifiers.
HELLO BIG SKY
Utah Tech joined the Big Sky Conference officially on July 1, 2026, in all Big Sky sponsored sports. Southern Utah also made the jump over from the Western Athletic Conference, where they once called the Big Sky home before their brief tenure in the WAC.
Utah Tech will begin conference play on Oct 1, with a home match versus Portland State. UT had a strong 4-0-1 record versus Big Sky opponents last year, including a sweep of rival Southern Utah. Last season's mark pushed the Trailblazers' overall record to 13-5-6 versus Big Sky opposition.
ON DECK
Utah Tech will conclude their 2026 season opening road swing with a Saturday evening match in San Diego, CA against UC San Diego, Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. PST / 8 p.m. MST.
