TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (September 12, 2018) - This has already been a historic season for the No. 9 Salt Lake Community College men's soccer program.

Last week, the Bruins earned their first-ever national ranking, marking a significant step in the three-year history of the program. Tuesday served as another historic day for the program, with SLCC holding its highest-ever national ranking at No. 9. The Bruins are the second-highest ranked team in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, sitting behind No. 8 Snow College.

With all of that in mind, Salt Lake now looks forward to the challenge of hosting an in-state rival in the program's league home-opener. The Bruins will host USU Eastern in matches on Friday and Saturday in Herriman, with the women's program playing matches before.

"The start to our season has simply been incredible," said SLCC coach Mark Davis. "Our work-ethic, attention-to-detail and teamwork has helped us achieve incredible goals already. Now the emphasis will be on where we take our program as we achieve the next level."

The next level will be continuing to earn victories in SWAC play, which won't be easy against USU Eastern. The Eagles sit at 4-1 on the season, with their lone loss coming to Southern Nevada in the opening weekend of league play. USU Eastern outscored opponents 14-2 in its four victories.

"USU Eastern is an extremely solid program, and we'll have our hands full with them," said Davis. "I'm excited to see how our guys handle the challenge of playing a quality league opponent in our building."

Friday's match against USU Eastern will start at 3:00 p.m., with Saturday's match starting at 1:00 p.m. Both matches will be played at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.