Utah Tech Beat Utah and Colorado State. Now Comes the Big Sky.

Utah Tech women's soccer beat Utah and Colorado State inside eight days, and the school says both were the first of their kind in program history. The Trailblazers were 4-3-1 on September 6, with two non-conference matches left and no Big Sky fixture yet played.

That is a different story from the one the schedule release told. Utah Tech announced its move to the Big Sky in June 2025 and put out this 19-match schedule on July 17, when the interesting date was October 1 — the conference debut. The non-conference run has since produced results the program had never recorded before.

Two program firsts in eight days

On August 30 in St. George, Utah Tech beat Utah 2-1 for what the school calls the program's first power-conference victory in the Division I era.

It did not look like one for a half. Utah outshot the Trailblazers 10-2 before the break and finished with 28 shots, 11 of them on goal. Goalkeeper Elle Rafajko kept the match scoreless with four first-half saves. Then Utah scored 13 seconds into the second half.

Utah Tech answered 38 seconds later. Lexi Nelson set up Abby Olsen on the left, and Olsen finished into the right side of the goal for the first score of her collegiate career. The winner came in transition: Lataya Brost spun away from a defender and played Jocelyn Wright through, and Wright beat the goalkeeper for her second of the season.

"This was the best win I've been a part of in my time here," head coach Lexi Brown said afterward, crediting a game plan built for Utah's pressing and describing it as a match her side always expected to spend without much of the ball.

Seven days later the Trailblazers did it at a higher level. On September 6 they beat Colorado State 1-0 for what the school calls the program's first ever win over a Pac-12 opponent. Colorado State took the first six shots of the match and finished with 19 to Utah Tech's 12.

Brost settled it in the 87th minute. Ava Talaeai built out of the back and found freshman midfielder Gianna Tomasello running the right wing; Tomasello crossed toward the middle, and Brost volleyed it past the goalkeeper. It was Tomasello's first career assist and Brost's second game-winning goal of the season — both in 1-0 wins — and Brost has now scored in back-to-back matches.

Elle Rafajko is the reason both results held

Rafajko was the reigning Big Sky Defender of the Week when Colorado State arrived, and she then recorded her second shutout of the season with six saves. It was her second clean sheet in four matches.

The pattern across both wins is the same. Utah Tech was outshot in each, won each by a single goal, and had a goalkeeper who did not concede the chance that would have changed it. Against a Utah side taking 28 shots, that is the whole margin.

The first Big Sky schedule

The conference debut was October 1 at Greater Zion Stadium against Portland State, a 2-1 win, with Montana visiting on October 4 for a 2-0 Utah Tech win. Those opened a nine-match conference slate; the remaining seven run:

• October 8 at Weber State (a 5-0 loss)
• October 11 at Idaho State
• October 15 vs. Northern Colorado
• October 18 vs. Northern Arizona
• October 22 at Idaho
• October 25 at Eastern Washington
• November 5 at Southern Utah

Two of those are in-state, and that is the part of realignment that changes something concrete. Weber State on October 8 and Southern Utah on November 5 used to be scheduling choices between Utah programs. They are now conference matches with standings attached. The Big Sky tournament follows on November 11-15 in Missoula, Montana.

Across the full season Utah Tech scheduled 19 official matches, nine of them at home in St. George.

What was left before conference play

Two fixtures were listed. Utah Tech hosted Cal State Northridge on September 10 at 7 p.m. MT, the last non-conference home match of the season, and lost 4-2; the September 17 match at New Mexico was later canceled, as Utah Tech's schedule lists it.

The run to this point reads: a 1-1 draw at UC Irvine, a 4-2 loss at UC San Diego, a 3-1 home-opening win over Westminster, a 3-0 loss to Portland, a 1-0 shutout of UC Riverside, the win over Utah, an 8-1 loss at Utah State, and the win over Colorado State. Senior forward Ella Rusick opened the scoring 64 seconds into the season at UC Irvine and added two more at UC San Diego — a start we covered when she had scored all three of Utah Tech's goals.

The Trailblazers enter their first Big Sky season having already beaten a power-conference opponent and a Pac-12 opponent. Whatever October produces, that is not the baseline anyone set in July.

Key facts:

• Record: Utah Tech is 4-3-1 through September 6, with no Big Sky matches played yet
• First power-conference win, by the school's count: Utah, 2-1, August 30 in St. George, in the Division I era
• First Pac-12 win, by the school's count: Colorado State, 1-0, September 6, on Lataya Brost's 87th-minute volley
• Goalkeeper: Elle Rafajko, Big Sky Defender of the Week, second shutout of the season against Colorado State
• Big Sky debut: 2-1 win over Portland State at Greater Zion Stadium on October 1
• As of Oct. 10, 2026: 6-5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Sky after beating Montana 2-0 on October 4 and losing 5-0 at Weber State on October 8, per Utah Tech's schedule
• Season shape: 19 scheduled matches, nine at home, with the September 17 match at New Mexico later canceled; Big Sky tournament November 11-15 in Missoula, Montana

*Update, Sept. 26, 2026: CSUN won 4-2 in St. George on September 10 after leading 3-0 in the first half, and Lataya Brost scored both Utah Tech goals. Utah Tech's schedule lists the September 17 match at New Mexico as canceled, so the Trailblazers finished nonconference play 4-4-1.*

*Update, Oct. 10, 2026: Utah Tech won its Big Sky opener 2-1 over Portland State at Greater Zion Stadium on October 1, beat Montana 2-0 there on October 4 on an own goal and Ella Cotter's first goal of the season, and lost 5-0 at Weber State on October 8, its first conference defeat, according to Utah Tech's recaps. The Trailblazers were 6-5-1 and 2-1 in the Big Sky as of October 10. The Big Sky named Ella Rusick its Offensive Player of the Week on October 6, her second such award of the season, per Utah Tech's release.*