The Game
After making a brief stop at home, the Coyotes head back out west for a weekend slate in the Beehive State. The first stop on the tour is in Cedar City, Utah, against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds tonight at 5:00 pm CT. Tonight's game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The Series
The Coyotes and Thunderbirds have met twice in program history. Southern Utah won both games with the earliest game in 2011 in Cedar City and the most recent game in Edinburg, Texas, at the UTRGV Invitational in 2015.

The Coyotes
After falling behind 0-3 early in the season, South Dakota has regrouped and had positive results in its previous two contests. USD went to Oregon and claimed a 2-2 tie against Portland State before returning home and defeating Dordt University 8-0 Tuesday night. The eight goals scored on Tuesday night were the most since the 2014 season when the Coyotes dropped 11 goals on Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Shaylee Gailus scored twice in the game against Dordt and now has three goals on the season and seven total points. Both Taylor Cotter and Taylor Ravelo scored in back-to-back contests with Cotter adding in two assists on the season as well. Joana Zanin, Haylee Phoenix, Christin Schmidt, and Morgan Sullivan have all scored one goal this season. Phoenix converted on the first penalty kick of the year in the 8-0 rout of Dordt. Caroline Lewis, Isabelle Harkleroad, and Waverly Patterson did not see much action on Tuesday, but combined for the first shutout of the season.

The Thunderbirds
Southern Utah heads into tonight's contest with a perfect 4-0 record. They've scored 20 goals in the four games and have only surrendered one goal this year. SUU is most recently coming off a 2-1 win over UTEP after Hailey Hamataka scored the game-winner on a penalty kick with just over four minutes to play.

Freshman Sammie Sofonia leads the Thunderbirds with six goals on the year. Her six goals came in the form of two hat tricks – one was in a 7-0 victory over Alcorn State with the other coming in a 10-0 win over Mississippi Valley State. Hamataka is second on the team after scoring a goal in Southern Utah's last three games. In net, Megan Short has made 15 saves on the year and holds a .30 goals against average and a 93.8 save percentage early in the season.