(St George, UT - Aug 19, 2026) – Utah Tech women's soccer will welcome in-state opponent, Westminster, for their 2026 season home opener on Thursday night at Greater Zion Stadium. 

REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 3
Who | Westminster (0-0-0, 0-0-0 RMAC) at Utah Tech (0-1-1, 0-0-0 Big Sky)
When | Thursday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. MST
Where | Greater Zion Stadium, St George, UT.
Watch | ESPN+
Stats | Live Stats
Social Media | Instagram - X - #UtahTechisHere - #BigSkyWSOC

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Tech women's soccer dropped their final game of their season opening road trip at UCSD, 4-2. 

After scoring in the first 64 seconds in their first match of the season, the Trailblazers' first shot on goal didn't come until the 9th minute, when Jocelyn Wright shot one that the Tritons' keeper was able to save. 

The Tritons were able to take a two goal lead into the half, with one of them coming off of a penalty kick in the 41st minute. UCSD was able to add on to their lead in the second half with goals in the 61st minute and the 72nd minute, to take a 4-0 lead.

Some life was shot back into the Trailblazers in the 72nd minute when Ella Rusick received a nice set up from Lataya Brost and was able to float one up and over the drawn out goalkeeper to get Utah Tech on the board. Just under three minutes later, Rusick was at it again as she received a beautiful stretch pass from Abby Olsen and lofted a perfect ball over the UCSD keeper once again, finding the upper right corner to cut the Triton lead to just two. This was Rusick's second goal of the night, and third on the season as she is responsible for all three Trailblazer goals this season.

UT kept the pressure on in the final minutes of the game, but were ultimately unable to overcome the four goal deficit.

RUSICK NAMED BIG SKY OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah Tech women's soccer senior forward, Ella Rusick, was named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. 

Ella has notched all three Trailblazer goals in their first two matches of the season, including four shots and three shots on goal. Starting in both matches, Ella also leads the conference in points with six. Rusick has already eclipsed her goal total from last season, and is one point shy of tying her total from last season. She has also tied her career high in goals with three in 2023, in just two matches thus far.

The senior forward got the Trailblazer season off to a terrific start in game one versus UC Irvine, where she scored just 64 seconds into the match. The goal was enough for UT to be able to hang on for a season opening draw with UCI, 1-1. 

In the second match of the season versus UC San Diego, Ella cut the Triton lead in half by netting two goals in a span of less than three minutes of game time. The first goal came off of a turnover, leading to a nice set up from Lataya Brost, where Rusick chipped it up and over the drawn out goalie. Brost has assisted on 2 of the 3 Trailblazer/Rusick goals this season. The second goal, coming just 2:50 later, was set up on a pretty stretch pass up the left side from Abby Olsen, where Ella lofted it over the goalie, placing it in the upper right corner.

WESTMINSTER WRITE-UP
The Westminster University Griffins will travel down to St George, coming off of a strong 2025 season where they went 7-4-6 and 4-3-3 in the RMAC. The Griffins earned the six seed in the conference tournament and fell in the quarterfinal round 2-1. 

Westminster was selected to finish sixth in the 2026 RMAC Preseason Poll, and did not land anyone on the Preseason All-RMAC Team. 

Allie Lieshout will begin her first season as the head coach for the Griffins. Lieshout arrives at Westminster after serving as an assistant coach at two Power Four programs. She spent three seasons (2021–2024) as first assistant at the University of Minnesota. 

This will be Westminster's second live action of the season as they hosted Utah State University-Eastern in an exhibition on August 15. The Griffins will open their 2026 regular season on Friday, Aug. 28, versus Cal State East Bay. 

SERIES HISTORY
Utah Tech leads the all-time series against the Griffins with a mark of 5-1-1. The last meeting came in 2024 where the Trailblazers emerged victorious 1-0. 

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.