TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (September 26, 2018) - The Salt Lake Community College men's soccer program may have suffered its first loss of the season last weekend, but don't even think about crying for the Bruins.

Salt Lake earned a road split with top-ten Snow College, falling to the in-state rival Badgers on Friday before earning a gutsy 1-0 victory on Saturday. The results helped bolster the national prowess of both programs, with Salt Lake rising to No. 3 in the country. This is the highest the program has ever been ranked, with the Bruins starting the season receiving votes in the preseason poll.

The continued success, in the face of adversity, has encouraged many around the SLCC program, Bruins coach Mark Davis said.

"Our success and national recognition continues to motivate our players to improve," he said. "We lost for the first time last weekend but our players didn't view that as a debilitating negative, and neither did national voters. Instead, the voters rewarded both us and Snow for our respective success against each other."

Salt Lake's 1-0 victory in Saturday's match helped lift the Bruins to a 10-1 overall record, with a record of 5-1 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. Every team in the SWAC now has a loss, with Snow and Southern Nevada both sitting at 3-1. SLCC's success also led to individual honors, with Bradji Cekrezi earning weekly honors as the conference's player of the week for his two goals on the weekend.

While last weekend brought an extreme challenge on the road, this weekend brings a less-stout but still-formidable challenge in the form of the College of Southern Nevada. The Coyotes, who sit behind SLCC in the league standings, started the season ranked in the national polls but are now receiving votes. Still, CSN's 2-2-1 record on the road lends to the idea that this weekend's matches will be challenging.

"Southern Nevada has an established program that is used to being successful in this conference," said Davis. "Our guys have to be ready to face off against a program that is filled with veteran competitors. Playing well this week will take every bit of focus we have."

Salt Lake will host the College of Southern Nevada on Friday and Saturday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, with the SLCC women's program playing beforehand each day. Friday's match starts at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday's match starts at 1:00 p.m. Recaps of both matches will be available on www.slccbruins.com.