Two soccer stars are lighting the way to a comeback for the men’s team.
Dixie State College is playing Grand Canyon University on Saturday and is hoping to maintain its momentum.
GCU is currently 8-1 in the Pacific West Conference and is 11-2 overall. The team is on a six-game winning streak.
GCU came in third last year with the record of 9-2-1 in the PacWest and 13-4-1 overall.
The Antelopes beat Dixie last year 1-0 in the first game, but the Red Storm bounced back a few weeks later and beat GCU 1-0 with a goal by senior midfielder Tyler Albretsen, a psychology major from Pleasant View.
Albretsen is a major contributor to the Red Storm. He made the winning goal against Point Loma Nazarene on Sept. 29 and continues to lead the team to success.
“My inspiration for me is my family,” Albretsen said. “They are almost at every home game, and they go to some away games. They’ve helped me along, and I play for them.”
But he’s not the only star. The team of Tylers, Albretsen and junior goal keeper Tyler Walters, are what help this team succeed. Walters was pronounced Goal Keeper of the Week for the week of Oct. 8, 2012.
Walters made a 2-0-0 mark that led the Red Storm back to a winning streak and sequential wins over University of Hawai’i at Hilo on Oct. 1 and Chaminade University Oct. 6. For those two games Walters stopped 11 out of 12 shots on goal.
“It’s always nice to win games,” head coach Danny Ortiz said. “You hope that you can win games and build on them, and that’s what we are hoping we can do.”
Dixie is on a high and is eager to keep it going for the rest of the season. It is currently 4-3-2 in the conference and 5-6-2 overall.
“We have to continue to do what we’re doing, and somewhere we have to find that final rhythm,” Ortiz said. “It’s a lot mentally right now.”
DSC is putting their finishing touches on the team and ensuring more victories for the future.
The Red Storm play GCU on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. in Phoenix.
