SALT LAKE CITY – Utah soccer is set for the first true road game of the season when the team travels South to take on Dixie State on Thursday, Feb. 11 in St. George, Utah, before returning home on Sunday, Feb. 14, to take on Weber State in Herriman, Utah.
Â
Kickoff on Thursday for Utah and Dixie State will be at 4 p.m. MT at Greater Zion Stadium. Fans can tune into the
WAC Digital Network for a live stream, while live stats will be available
here. After making the trip back home, the Utes will close out their slate against non-conference opponents on Sunday against Weber State. The Utes and Wildcats will square off at 1 p.m. MT at the Zions Bank Training Center. There will be no stream, however, live stats can be found
here.
Â
NEXT UTE UP
With 19 underclassmen on the roster, it was a night of Ute debuts in the 2021 spring season opener for the young Utah team last weekend. Utah natives
Ragan Fuller and
Taliana Kaufusi made their first-career starts against BYU to begin their freshman seasons. Redshirt freshman
Chelsea Peterson, along with freshmen
Erin Bridges,
Harper Hughes,
Avery Brady and
McKenna Baillie, all made their collegiate debut as well last Saturday. Of the 17 Utes that saw action, 12 of the student-athletes were underclassmen.
Â
SCOUTING DIXIE STATE
Dixie State is coming off a 5-1 loss to Gonzaga in its season opener with the sole goal coming from Whitley Griffiths, which marked her 26th career goal. Making the move to Division I this year, the Trailblazers are entering the season as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Dixie State returns 10 starters and 13 letterwinners from the 2019 campaign, which saw a RMAC championship and a final ranking of No. 2 in the nation in the final season of Division II play.
Â
SCOUTING WEBER STATE
Weber State has had two exhibitions on the year and has dropped both contests. The Wildcats fell to Utah Valley 1-0 and two weeks later fell to BYU 7-0. Weber State and Dixie State were scheduled to play this past weekend, but the contest was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. Weber State posted a 2-10-5 record in 2019 with wins coming against Nevada and Portland State. Key returners include Haley Thomas, who logged the most minutes for the squad in 2019, along with Olivia Barton and Taylor Scadlock.
Â
LAST TIME OUT
The Utes opened the season against in-state rival No. 10-ranked BYU and dropped the opener 5-1. Utah's first goal of the season was provided by
Anna Escobedo to tie the game 1-1. It was Escobedo's second career goal and came off of
Hanna Olsen's first career assist. Olsen,
Ali Schinko and
Taliana Kaufusi all recorded shots on goal, but it was Escobedo's goal in the 17th minute that got past the Cougars' goalkeeper.Â
SJ Edwards started the match as Utah's goalkeeper, finishing with one save, while it was
Chelsea Peterson who got the nod for the second half of play and came out with four saves.
Â
UP NEXT
Utah heads to Pullman, Wash. for a pair of contests against the Washington State Cougars. The first conference game of the 2021 season will be on Friday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. MT on the Palouse. Utah and Washington State will then have a rematch on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. MT. The second matchup will be played as an non-conference game and will not be counted toward the conference standings.
Â