(St George, UT – Sept 29, 2026) – Utah Tech men's soccer opens its Mountain West Conference home slate with a familiar opponent in Grand Canyon, Wednesday night at Greater Zion Stadium.

REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 10, CONFERENCE 2
Who | Grand Canyon (4-5-0, 1-0-0 MWC) at Utah Tech (1-6-2, 0-0-0 MWC) 
When | Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. MST 
Where | Greater Zion Stadium, St George, UT
Watch | Mountain West+
Stats | Live Stats
Social Media | Instagram - X - #UtahTechisHere - #MWMSOC

LAST TIME OUT
Utah Tech men's soccer earned its second straight draw, opening Mountain West Conference play with a 1-1 draw on the road at Air Force. 

It was an evenly played first half in Colorado Springs as both teams traded scoring chances to open the match. Utah Tech and Air Force recorded six shots each in the first half, but headed into the locker room in a scoreless tie.

 Zack Jarvie was solid in net in the first half for UT, stopping the only shot on goal out of the six total shots the Cadets had.

The Trailblazers were able to capitalize on their first shot on goal in the second half when freshman Griffin Vallardes gained control of a loose ball and fired a right-footed shot that zipped past the goalkeeper to give UT the lead and open the scoring. The goal was Vallardes's first of his career.

The Air Force Academy was able to find the equalizer ten minutes later when Logan Zaa scored unassisted.

Both teams again traded scoring opportunities over the final 25 minutes of play, but neither were able to finish and the match ended in a draw.

LEARN ABOUT THE 'LOPES
Grand Canyon enters Wednesday's match as winners of their last two games, including a 2-1 win over UNLV in their conference opener. GCU led for all but ten minutes, scoring in just the eighth minute. The Rebels found the equalizer in the second half, but the Lopes regained the lead just over two minutes later. 

GCU was picked to win the Mountain West Conference in its inaugural season, tied with San Jose State with a poll-leading 22 points, but it was Grand Canyon that earned the most first-place votes (four of six). 

The 'Lopes are looking to build off a strong 2025 campaign, where they won the WAC regular season and tournament championships, and reached the NCAA Sweet 16. GCU was slated 21st in the national preseason polls, but have since fallen out. 

Head coach Jamie Davies is in his first season at the helm of the program, after two standout seasons as head coach at North Florida. In two seasons, the Ospreys won two regular-season conference championships, two conference tournament championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.

GCU is led offensively by Arnau Camaño, who has a team-high 5 goals, 10 points, and 13 shots on goal. Camaño scored the opening goal in their conference opening 2-1 win over UNLV last time out. 

Grand Canyon has had four different goalies record minutes this season, but have mainly been led by Beltran Fernandez. He has held opponents to 1.38 goals per game, and has recorded 13 saves, including a shutout of Sacramento State on 8/23. 

SERIES HISTORY
These two programs have a long history, going back to the Division 2 days in the PacWest Conference. Since the two have been Division 1 members, the series is even at 3-3-1. GCU got the best of UT in the last matchup, eliminating the Trailblazers in the WAC Semifinal last season in Riverside. 

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.