(St. George, UT - Aug 6, 2026) - Trailblazer women's soccer gets off to a strong start and defeats UNLV, 3-2 on Thursday night in their lone exhibition match before the 2026 regular season begins. 

Utah Tech wasted no time, attacking the Rebels early as Preseason All-Big Sky selection Bre Koscielski found the back of the net in the sixth minute. Lataya Brost set up Bre's score, getting credited with the assist. 

Brost continued her strong offensive output, as she was able to put one past the UNLV goalkeeper in the 20th minute. Senior forward, Ella Rusick, was given the assist on the play. 

Already leading by two goals, the Trailblazers added on in the 40th minute when freshman midfielder Gianna Tomasello scored Utah Tech's third goal of the first half. Brooke Hendricks and Ella Cotter were both in on the play, recording assists. 

UNLV would score twice in the second half, once via penalty kick, but UT was able to hold off the strong Rebel push and hang on for a 3-2 victory. 

Head coach Lexi Brown was pleased with what she saw from her team tonight, saying "We're really glad to have the experience of this exhibition game under our belt. It was a great opportunity to test ourselves against an opponent and get a lot of players on the field to gain some experience. We were really happy with our first half performance and the way we started the match by getting on the board early really mattered and set the tempo for the half."

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. 

Utah Tech outshot UNLV, 12-9, including shots on goal at a 9-4 clip. No cards were given out during the match, and UT had two more corners than UNLV.

Next Up
Utah Tech will open up the 2026 regular season with a road match at UC Irvine on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. MST.