(St George, UT - Sept 5, 2026) – Utah Tech women's soccer will look to bounce back from Thursday's loss with their second consecutive match against a Pac-12 opponent, Sunday morning.
REGULAR SEASON: MATCH 8
Who | Colorado State (1-4-0, 0-0-0 Pac-12) at
Utah Tech (3-3-1, 0-0-0 Big Sky)
When | Sunday, Sept 6 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
Utah Tech women's soccer fell to the Pac-12 preseason favorite in Logan Thursday night, 8-1.
The first scoring chance for the Trailblazers (3-3-1) came in the early moments of the second half where
Abby Olsen put a nice ball on net that was saved by the leaping USU keeper.
Utah Tech was able to get on the board in the 74th minute on a set play off of a free kick in the Aggie half.
Abby Olsen took the free kick and lofted one toward the box where redshirt junior
Lataya Brost was able to gain possession and fire one to the top of the goal, past the goalkeeper, and in. The goal was Brost's second of the year, both coming in the past week.
THE RUNDOWN ON THE RAMS
Colorado State will visit St George after facing a nationally ranked BYU team in Provo on Thursday. The Rams fell to the Cougars in a hard fought battle, 2-1.
CSU enters with a record of 1-4-0, but has had a tough schedule so far, including two ranked opponents and one receiving votes. Senior Mia Casey, redshirt junior Avery Boulom and senior Bridget Arnold were named to the Pac-12 Preseason Impact Players List.
Utah State was selected to win the conference, and Colorado State was predicted to finish tied for 6th in the preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY
Colorado State owns a 2-1 series lead, with the last meeting coming in the 2025 season in Fort Collins where CSU rode a two-goal first half to a 2-1 victory.
RAFAJKO EARNS BIG SKY DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah Tech junior goalkeeper
Elle Rafajko was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.
Elle had a stellar week, recording 11 total saves while helping the Trailblazers to a 2-0-0 record.
On Aug 27 versus UC Riverside, Rafajko stopped both shots on target from the Highlanders and recorded her first career shutout at Utah Tech. UT's backline allowed just two of the seven shots to reach the junior keeper, and she was right there to stop both of them and kept UCR at bay.
On Aug 30, Rafajko was under heavy fire against the Utes, recording 9 total saves en route to a 2-1 victory. Utah had 28 shots but just 11 were on target, thanks to the Trailblazer backline being stout yet again.
Elle's nine saves were tied for 6th most in program history in a single game, last done in 2025.
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.
