(Colorado Springs, CO – Sept 25, 2026) – Utah Tech men's soccer opens up conference play in their inaugural season as a member of the Mountain West, with a road match against the Air Force Academy on Saturday night. 

REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 9, CONFERENCE 1
Who | Utah Tech (1-6-1, 0-0-0 MWC) at Air Force (1-3-3, 0-0-0 MWC)
When | Saturday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. MST 
Where | Cadet Soccer Stadium, USAF Academy, CO
Watch | Mountain West+
Stats | Live Stats
Social Media | Instagram - X - #UtahTechisHere - #MWMSOC

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Tech men's soccer came from behind to earn a hard-fought draw against Utah Valley in the latest rendition of the "Old Hammer Rivalry". 

The Wolverines (4-0-2) were able to break the scoreless tie in the 36th minute, to give them the advantage heading into the half. Utah Tech outshot Utah Valley 4-3 in the first half, but weren't able to put one on net.

UVU came out of the break as the aggressor, out shooting UT 14-5 in the second half. Freshman Zack Jarvie was able to keep the Trailblazers in the game, making four second half saves to keep the deficit at one.

In the 75th minute, Utah Tech had a throw-in, deep in UVU's end. After the ball was pin balling around, two Utah Valley defenders came together and knocked the ball out of their reach where Seth Powder was in the right place at the right time. Powder gained control of the Wolverine turnover, fired a right-footed shot to the bottom left of the net, and got it past the diving keeper to give Utah Tech the equalizer they were looking for. Seth's goal was his first of the season, and first as a Trailblazer. 

After a back and forth final fifteen minutes of play that included a pair of clutch saves on dangerous Utah Valley chances by Jarvie, the Trailblazers earned a draw with the Wolverines.

The Trailblazers have now gone undefeated in its last two match ups against ranked opponents. 

THE FALCON FILES
Air Force enters Mountain West play coming off of a 3-1 home victory last Friday against UTRGV. The Falcons led wire-to-wire in their first win of the 2026 campaign, and scored a season-high three goals. 

AFA was selected to finish just ahead of Utah tech in the preseason coaches' poll, edging out UT by three points. Midfielder Tucker Kern, midfielder Quinn Muderlak, and forward Logan Zaa were featured on the preseason watch list. 

Both Tucker and Quinn lead the Falcons in goals with two apiece, and in points at four. Hunter Anderson has started and played every minute in goal so far this season for the Cadets. He  has held opponents to just 1.29 goals per game, and has recorded 33 saves over his seven matches of work. 

SERIES HISTORY
The two programs have met six times in their history, playing in every season that Utah Tech has been a member of Division 1. The series is even at three wins a side, and the Trailblazers have won the last three meetings. Last year, UT cruised to a 4-0 WAC win in St George, on senior day. 

TRAILBLAZERS PICKED SIXTH IN COACHES' POLL
Utah Tech men's soccer was selected to finish 6th in the 2026 Mountain West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, and had three players selected to the 2026 Mountain West Conference Preseason Watchlist. 

Utah Tech was slotted just behind Air Force, tallying 7 total points in the preseason poll. Grand Canyon and San Jose State both tied for the lead with 22 points, but the Lopes outnumbered the Spartans in first place votes, 4-2, to claim the honors of being the preseason favorite.

Goalkeeper Luca Campoli, forward Samir Cuevas, and defender Tanner Dutra were selected to the 2026 Mountain West Conference Preseason Watchlist.

Campoli is coming off of a strong freshman campaign in 2025 where he made 12 appearances, with 11 of them coming as starts. Luca recorded 37 saves and recorded three wins, including two shutouts. Both shutouts recorded by Campoli came against now conference opponents in Air Force and UNLV. In the seven conference games Luca played in last season, he posted a 3-1-3 record while allowing just eight total goals.

Samir had a productive 2025 season when on the field for UT. In just six games, Cuevas recorded three assists and six shots on goal. This is the second year in a row that Cuevas has earned preseason recognition, as he was named to the Preseason All-WAC team in 2025. Samir enters his senior season at Utah Tech tied for seventh in game winning goals, with three.

Tanner Dutra was a solid contributor for the Trailblazers in 2025. Starting in all 17 games, he scored two goals and assisted once. Tanner played all 90 minutes in every game except one. Tanner led the team in minutes played a season ago (1,509) and helped the Trailblazers record four shutouts on the season.

2025 SEASON RECAP
Utah Tech is looking to improve upon a 2025 season where they posted a 4-7-6 overall record, and 3-1-3 in conference play. UT saw themselves in first place in conference at times, and ended the regular season as the two seed and fell to three seeded Grand Canyon in the semifinal round. 

The Trailblazers earned seven All-WAC postseason selections, including returning goalkeeper, Luca Campoli being named Goalkeeper of the Year, and head coach Jonny Broadhead being named Coach of the Year. Two All-Freshman honorees return for UT this season in Jacob Cinelli and Stetson Coy.

RETURNING PRODUCTION
Utah Tech returns just nine players from a year ago. Just five of the nine returners appeared in over half of UT's matches last season. All three of the players nominated for the 2026 Mountain West Conference Preseason Watchlist return after earning postseason all-conference awards last season.

A player that was not named to the conference preseason watchlist that had a great season last year was junior forward Stetson Coy. Coy appeared in 14 matches, making five starts, and scored his first career goal in a 2-1 victory over then ranked No. 21 California Baptist. Stetson made the WAC All-Freshman Team along with Campoli and Jacob Cinelli. 

NEW FACES ON THE PITCH
The Trailblazers welcome 19 newcomers to the roster for the 2026 season, including 11 freshmen. 

HELLO MOUNTAIN WEST SOCCER
While Utah Tech athletics transitioned most sports to the Big Sky Conference, both baseball and men's soccer found a home in the new look Mountain West Conference. This will be the inaugural season of Mountain West men's soccer, and Utah Tech will begin conference play with a road match at Air Force on Saturday, Sept. 26. All UT men's soccer home matches and conference matches can be streamed on Mountain West Plus.