KEAAU—Playing first-place Dixie State on even terms is tough enough. Playing them a man down is a sure recipe for a loss.

The University of Hawai`i Hilo men's soccer team had that task on Thursday afternoon at Paiea Stadium, eventually falling to the Pacific West Conference leading Trailblazers, 3-0. The victory was the ninth straight for Dixie State and they improved to 9-3 overall. They are 7-0 in conference action. UH Hilo is 1-9-1 and they are 0-6-1 in the PacWest.

The Vulcans kept the ball-controlling Trailblazers out of the goal almost until halftime. With two minutes left before the break, on a 50/50 ball, UHH's Trenton Hooper got whistled for a yellow card, his second of the match, turning that yellow to red and suddenly the Vulcans were playing with 10 instead of 11 and would have to do so the rest of the match.

Less than two minutes later, the Trailblazers capitalized. Moises Medina took a pass from Gustavo Ortega to score with 37 seconds left in the half. Dixie State took a 1-0 lead into the halftime locker room, and would then add to it in the second half.

Sean Jenne found the net a little over five minutes after intermission and then Medina added his second goal of the match with 23 minutes left.

Zach Nielson recorded the shutout, his fifth in Dixie State's last six matches. The Trailblazers have given up just two scores in their last six games.

The Trailblazers controlled the match offensively, finishing with 27 shots, 12 of them on goal. The Vulcans had six shots, five of them on goal. Dixie had seven corner kicks to UHH's one.

Hawai`i Hilo will return home to Kamehameha School on Saturday, hosting Concordia at 4:30 p.m.