(St George, UT - Aug 22, 2026) – Utah Tech women's soccer hosts the Portland Pilots for a Sunday matinee match to conclude a brief two-match homestand. 

REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 4
Who | Portland (0-2-0, 0-0-0 WCC) at Utah Tech (1-1-1, 0-0-0 Big Sky)
When | Sunday, Aug. 23 at 11 a.m. MST
Where | Greater Zion Stadium, St George, UT.
Watch | ESPN+
Stats | Live Stats
Social Media | Instagram - X - #UtahTechisHere - #BigSkyWSOC

LAST TIME OUT
UTWSOC picked up their first win of 2026 in their home opener against Westminster on Thursday night. 

Utah Tech got the home opening fun started early in the sixth minute when Joelyn Wright netted her first goal of the year off of a nice pass from Preseason All-Big Sky nominee, Bre Koscielski, as well as Lataya Brost. 

In the 22nd minute, Utah Tech forced a corner off of a Abby Olsen shot that was saved by the Westminster goalkeeper. Lataya Brost took the corner for the Trailblazers and served one toward the short side where a Griffin defender deflected the ball into the net for an own goal, and a 2-0 lead. 

Utah Tech came out of the half keeping the pressure on Westminster, as Ella Rusick got two shots off in the first seven minutes of play. On her third attempt, Rusick fired an absolute rocket from just outside the box for her fourth goal of the season. Ella's four goals lead the Trailblazers as well as the Big Sky Conference thus far. Jocelyn Wright recorded an assist on the goal, adding to her most productive night of the young 2026 season.

Westminster would get a goal back a few minutes later after a deflection off of the drawn out UT goalie led to an open rebound to close the gap to 3-1, but Utah Tech maintained the lead to the final whistle. 

PILOT PREVIEW
The Portland Pilots opened their 2026 season with a pair of road matches back to back, on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Their first match was against a consensus top-15 team in University of Washington, which they fell in a hard fought battle, 1-0. The Pilots then traveled to the state of Utah where they took on Utah State and dropped that match, 2-0. 

Portland landed three players on the All-WCC Preseason Team and were voted to finish in a second place tie with Santa Clara. Defender Hailey Bagby had a solid junior season which saw her earn All-WCC Honorable Mention and start in 16 games. Midfielder Aliyah Dockter also made All-WCC Honorable Mention while playing 16 games for the Pilots. Doctor has been a two time WCC All-Academic Team member during her time with Portland. Lastly, defender Violet Rademacher made the All-WCC First Team last year for Portland and helped lead a dominant Pilots defense. Rademacher started 16 games for the Pilots scoring seven goals and an assist leading the team in goals and points.

The Pilots look to build off of a strong 2025 season, after going 10-3-6 overall and 7-1-3 in WCC play. The Pilots finished in a tie for second in the conference, their best finish since 2013.

SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting all-time between the Pilots and Trailblazers. 

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.