Dixie State’s men’s soccer team extended its regular-season winning streak to 21-straight games, though it was not easy as the Trailblazers scored late and held on to defeat Biola, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Legend Solar Stadium.

After both teams battled back and forth in a physical scoreless draw through the first 70 minutes of play, the Trailblazers (6-0-0, 2-0-0 PacWest) managed to take advantage of a critical Eagle defensive error in the 71st minute to set up the game’s lone goal.

Biola (1-4-1, 0-1-0 PacWest) goalkeeper Igor Puglia was called for a foul after he crossed over the 18-yard box line on a punt, which led to a DSU free kick at the top of the box. Senior Ather Dawood then stepped up and blasted a shot just past Puglia’s outstretched gloves and into the net to give Dixie State a one-goal advantage.

The Trailblazers were then forced to bear down defensively as DSU had to play a man down during the final 14-plus minutes of the match after a Trailblazer player was issued a second yellow card, which turned into red card ejection.

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Biola managed to attempt seven of its 15 shots in the match in that final stretch. But the DSU defense blocked away two of the attempts, while sophomore netminder Zach Nielson (W, 5-0-0) stopped three others, including a Parker Setran shot in the closing seconds, to preserve Dixie State’s third-straight shutout win.

Dixie State was credited with nine shots attempts, four on goal, while Nielson finished with four saves in recording his third shutout victory of the season in goal.

Dixie State continues its four-match homestand this Tuesday, Sept. 26, with a PacWest tilt against Hawai’i Pacific at 7 p.m.

Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.

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