TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (August 24, 2022) – The Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department has a full week of competition ahead, with all of its teams ranked highly in the NJCAA polls.
 
The No. 11 SLCC Volleyball team will travel to Texas to play a four-match tournament filled with national contenders, while the No. 3 and No. 4 SLCC Men's-and-Women's Soccer programs will host their first-ever matches on the new turf at the Redwood Campus.
 
For more information and upcoming schedules, visit slccbruins.com.
 
Men's Soccer: A climatic victory has lifted the No. 3 Bruins to a positive feeling to start the season.
 
Salt Lake earned a thrilling 3-2 victory in overtime over Eastern Florida State, lifting the Bruins to a 1-0 record in Florida. In advance of this week's home opener, SLCC coach Mark Davis said his team is operating well after the opening week of play.
 
"We feel that we are close to playing to our best ability for 90 minutes," he said. "We are making sure this game is better than our last game."
 
SLCC will face off against Central Wyoming at 1:30 on Saturday at the Redwood Campus. This will be the final preseason match for the Bruins.
 
Davis said Salt Lake needs to continue focusing on improvement.
 
"We still need to enforce style of play, the SLCC way - playing quick, cohesive, and focusing on defensive positioning," he said. 
 
Volleyball: The No. 11 Bruins did exactly what they needed to last weekend, going 3-0 in a tournament that featured a win over perennial NJCAA contender Miami Dade.
 
Looking ahead at a four-match jaunt in Texas, SLCC is prepared to continue building its chops in advance of a long season.
 
"I was very happy to see the depth of our team and how well everyone supported each other whether they were on the court or not," said Bruins coach Shay Goulding Meurer. "I was able to play everyone, and everyone played well. We really put up some great numbers offensively."
 
SLCC will open the tournament on Thursday with a match against Odessa College. The Bruins will then advance to face off against Hill College and Panola College Friday, concluding the tournament with a match against Indian Hills on Saturday.
 
Goulding Meurer said SLCC will look to continue building on fundamentals in this week's matches.
 
"The number one thing will continue to be the number one thing, and that is that we want to win the serve-and-serve receive battle," she stated. "When we do, the rest will take care of itself."
 
Women's Soccer: A tough battle with the NJCAA's top-ranked team over the weekend hasn't taken any wind out of the sails of the No. 4 Bruins.
 
SLCC suffered a 3-2 loss to No. 1 Eastern Florida, falling in the final minutes of a match that could be a potential NJCAA tournament preview. Looking towards hosting Central Wyoming this week for the first time on the new turf at the Redwood Campus, Salt Lake coach Cassie Ulrich said her team is in a good place.
 
"I think we're at a good place in our season after these first three weeks, and the match against Eastern Florida highlighted where we need to focus our efforts over the next two weeks," she said. "The team understands how we want to play, now we get to add more detail and demand more from our standard of play."
 
SLCC will play Central Wyoming at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. This will be the final match before the Bruins open Scenic West Athletic Conference play on Thursday, September 1 at home against Snow College.
 
Ulrich said her team is focused on using this week to prepare for conference play.
 
"The last few weeks have really focused on how we defend and how we move the ball up the field," she noted. "This week, we're really focusing on our attack in front of goal. We want to create quality goal scoring opportunities and be able to put the ball in the back of the net over-and-over again. A lot of that is developing our team's understanding of how to create those moments, but it's also about chemistry between players and relationships on the field. We've got to foster those relationships."