WSU won 12 games, far eclipsing the win total from the previous three seasons combined, and new head coach and Layton native Kyle Christensen immediately had the program on the map with a No. 1 vote from other Big Sky coaches coming into this season.

That lit a fire for WSU’s returning players like senior forward Lily Blum, who said the Wildcats are adding gas to that flame.

Or, GASS, to be more accurate.

“Our biggest goal is really to get what we lost last year, that championship,” Blum said. “Our team motto this year is GASS Up, and it stands for grit, accountability, sacrifice and sisterhood. We’re trying to implement every single one of those into every game.”

Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics

Though coming back with a core of returners, WSU did lose its top goal scorers Grace Kirby (graduation) and Presley Ray (transferred to Utah Valley).

So WSU felt out a 4-5-1 nonconference slate. Weber beat Wyoming, Colorado State and Oregon State, and tied Utah, but lost two one-goal home matches in mid-September and got drubbed 3-0 at UVU.

Blum leads the team with four goals and two assists in 12 games, and says players have learned better about the sisterhood component this season.

“I think we’ve seen huge improvement in relationships between teammates, which I think has done wonders for us off the field. We’re just trying to transfer that onto the field now, and how to play together seamlessly,” Blum said.

“Instead of thinking we need to be a certain way at the end of the season, it’s that we need to be this way at the end of the next game.”

Robert Casey, Weber State Athletics

That all leads to the ultimate results, which come in Big Sky Conference action.

Against a six-win Idaho team, WSU did not get a shot on goal until the 85th minute, which led to a corner kick and a goal to save a 1-1 knot and earn one point. Weber followed that with a 3-2 win at Eastern Washington, another six-win team, and came away with four points on the road trip.

Four points from every league road trip very likely puts you at the top of the table, but the Wildcats aren’t exactly satisfied. After the near-defeat at Idaho, Weber State built a 3-0 lead only to sweat it late at Eastern Washington.

So a lot of talk has centered around one topic.

“There’s plenty we learned from the weekend. We’ve had a tendency through the season to only put half a game together. We have not had enough games where we put in good performance for the whole 90 minutes,” Christensen said. “The first half at Idaho, we were not good, to say it nicely. Then we figured it out in the second half. … Eastern Washington, we came out great, got well-deserved goals, dominated possession. Second half, we came out flat.

“We didn’t put the whole 90 minutes together, so we’ve talked about that a lot the last couple days. It’s something we have to do to get a result against Utah Tech. They’re a good team, really experienced, super well-coached. It will take a 90-minute effort to get a result.”

Weber State opens its league slate with the three teams that ostensibly join the Wildcats as the top four teams in the conference, based on results.

That stretch concludes with Utah Tech, a 7 p.m. kickoff Thursday at Wildcat Soccer Field. The newcomer Trailblazers scored six points to open the schedule and sit atop the Big Sky. After that, Southern Utah is close behind (three points) and is in Ogden for a 1 p.m. Sunday start.

“It’s geared us up a bit, punch us in the face a little bit, to wake up … we’re going from the get-go,” Blum said. “They were really hard-fought games and this week will be two more hard-fought games. We can’t let up for any minute.

“There’s not a better way to start off the season and be able to show what you’re going to bring to the table as early as you can, and that’s the card we’ve been given.”