CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Southern Utah University women's soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss Thursday to southern Utah rival Dixie State. 

With this loss, the Thunderbirds fell to 1-6-0 on the season, while Dixie State improved their record to 4-5-0. 

"It's unfortunate," said SUU head Coach Kai Edwards "We had chances and we are a better team than we were before. I am extremely proud of our group because one of our core values is to develop and we keep getting better every day. We've shown resilience throughout this season and we just have to continue to plug away because at some point the results will follow." 

The Trailblazers came out of the gate hot as their offensive attack carried the ball deep into the Thunderbirds' final third, racking up a total of eight first-half shots and three corner kicks. Trailblazer forward Brynlee Roberts got the scoring started in the 37th minute when Kearney Hoggan sent a pass inside the box to Roberts who fired a low bending shot to the bottom left corner of the net giving Dixie State a 1-0 lead going into the break. 

Coming out of the break, the Thunderbirds began to create chances inside the Trailblazers 18-yard box. After firing four shots on goal, the T-Birds finally broke through in the 79th minute. Forward Kate Schirmer split through the Trailblazers' backline, launching a shot on goal that deflected off of the Trailblazer goalkeeper towards Ashley Rivera, who collected the spill and buried the ball into the back of the net. 

Both teams continued to battle, trading runs down the field inside their opponent's final third, but with just seconds left in regulation, Dixie State struck again. Forward Jill Bennett found Brynlee Roberts inside the Thunderbirds box where she was able to beat the goalkeeper to the top left corner of the net. 

Ashley Rivera's 79th-minute goal is her first as a Thunderbird. 

T-Bird defenders Adelayo Ogtunde and Delaney Peery both played 90 minutes recording multiple clearances for the Thunderbird backline.  

SUU's offense recorded a new season-high 18 shots, with five of them being on goal. 

Thunderbird forward Kate Schirmer also tallied a team-high six shots on the day. 

Southern Utah will now travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take on the Colorado College Tigers Sunday, September 19th. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. MT. 

For all the latest on Southern Utah soccer, follow @SUUSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Southern Utah Soccer Facebook page.