THIS WEEK IN THE WAC ?“ The WAC enters the final week of the regular season. The tournament field is set, but the seeding has yet to be determined. Idaho and Louisiana Tech will not be making the trip to Boise. The match to help determine the rest of the field will be the final match on Friday night. The battle of the WAC?™s top two teams, Nevada and Hawai'i, face off in Honolulu for the No. 1 seed. Also on Oct. 28 is Boise State at Utah State, San Jose State at Fresno State and Idaho at Louisiana Tech. With those four matches in the books, each team will know its fate going into the Sunday matches. To conclude the regular season, Boise State is at Louisiana Tech, Idaho at Utah State, Nevada at San Jose State and Fresno State at Hawai'i.
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XBOX LIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“ Nevada forward Jessica Thompson and defender Jessica Wilcox have been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference women?™s soccer offensive and defensive Players of the Week, respectively.
Thompson, a freshman from Ogden, Utah, scored seven points over the weekend, leading Nevada to two conference wins. In the, 2-1, double-overtime win against Utah State, Thompson assisted on both goals. She also scored twice in a, 4-0, win over Louisiana Tech. The goals were her first of her career.
Wilcox, a junior from Phoenix, Ariz., anchored a defense that allowed just one goal in 200 minutes of play. Not only did the Wolf Pack defense hold off Utah State in the double-overtime win, it allowed only one shot against Louisiana Tech. Adding to her stellar defense, Wilcox added an assist against Louisiana Tech.
Other offensive nominees included: Randi Baker, Boise State and Kortney Lewis, Fresno State.
Other defensive nominees included: Kim Parker, Boise State; Angie Larsen, Fresno State; Kori Lu, Hawai'i and Kelli Allred, Utah State.
POINTING TO BOISE ?“ The WAC Tournament field is based on points this season, with the top six teams advancing to Boas Soccer Complex and Boise, Idaho. Each team receives three points for a win and one point for a tie. The following are the current point totals for 2005.
^Hawai'i, 12
^Nevada, 12
^Fresno State, 10
^Boise State, 9
^San Jose State, 9
^Utah State, 7
Louisiana Tech, 0
Idaho 0
^Clinched Tournament Berth
TOURNAMENT FIELD IS SET ?“ With only one week left in the regular season, the 2005 WAC Tournament field is set. Teams will be using this weekend to determine their seeds. Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Nevada, San Jose State and Utah State have all clinched berths to Boise. With the two 4-1 teams, in Hawai'i and Nevada facing off for the No. 1 seed, the final weekend is set to be exciting to the final whistle. The tournament will be in Boise, Idaho at the Boas Soccer Complex, Nov. 3-5 for the WAC Tournament. The top two seeds get a first-round bye. The two first-round matches on Nov. 3 will be at 12:00 and 2:30 p.m. The seminfinals are slated for Nov. 4, again at 12:00 and 2:30 p.m. with the Championship Match scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Nov. 5.
NATIONAL POLLS - Click on the following links to view the current national polls.
NSCAA
National | West | Central
SoccerBuzz.com
National | West | Central
SoccerTimes.com
SoccerAmerica Magazine
HAWAI'I, TENZING REACH 100 WINS ?“ Hawai'i head coach Pinsoom Tenzing and the Hawai'i soccer progam, reached their 100th career win with a, 2-0, win over San Jose State. Tenzing, who is in his 12th year at the helm of the Rainbow Wahine, owns a career record of 100-107-18 (.484). He is the only coach of the program.
TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURE ?“ To determine championship seeding in the event of ties between two teams or ties among multiple teams, the following criteria are applied:
In the event of a two-way tie:
1. Head-to-head competition
2. Compare the teams?™ records to that of the next highest finishing team (if tie for first). If tie is for position other than first, comparisn will begin at the top of the standings.
3. In the unlikely event that teams are still tied, the conference conducts a draw.
For a three or more-way tie:
1. Head-to-head competition among the teams involved in the tie. The team(s) with the best record against the other teams receives the higher seed or advances to the next tie-breaker.
2. Same procedures as above.
UTAH STATE REACHES POST SEASON FOR FIRST TIME ?“ Utah State secured a WAC Tournament appearance, giving it a post season match for the first time in its 10-year history. The Aggies used a, 0-0, tie against Fresno State to reach seven points, placing them sixth in the WAC, heading into the final week.
NEVADA CONTINUES RECORD FOR WINS ?“ In just its second season under head coach Terri Patraw, Nevada has set a new single-season record for wins. With only two matches remaining this season, the Wolf Pack has tallied 10 wins, topping the mark of four set three previous times. Nevada has also tallied four WAC wins, setting a new season record. It had only posted two WAC wins total coming into 2005.
KAI RUNNING AWAY WITH WAC?™S CAREER SHOTS ?“ Hawai'i senior forward Natasha Kai, became the new WAC career leader for shots, with six against Robert Morris on Sept. 25, giving her 369. She passed BYU?™s Shauna Rohbuck who posted 368 from 1995-98. Kai continues her pace, firing 96 this season, moving her career total to 424. Against Louisiana Tech, Kai had 16 shots, setting a new WAC-match record. She passes TCU?™s Sherry Dick.
TARPENNING MOVING UP SAVES LISTS ?“ Nevada senior goalkeeper Megan Tarpenning has posted 44 saves in 16 matches this year, moving her into second on the WAC?™s all-time list with 387. She is 19 short of second, held by Jennifer Johnstone of Fresno State.
KAI MOVING UP RECORD LISTS ?“ Kai has posted nine goals this season, moving her career total to 68 which is good for second and is 27 behind Shauna Rohbuck of SMU for first. At 154 career points, Kai is two points behind SMU?™s Kim Harvey who is second. Kai set a WAC single-match record for shots as she fired 16 against Louisiana Tech on Oct. 14. In 2004, Kai also set a new single-season record for shots at 130. She set the new shots mark in the conference-season as well, tallying 49 shots, to top 44 by Sherry Dick of TCU in 2000.
NCAA OPPONENTS ?“ Of the 95 non-conference matchups, 17 are against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year and six are at WAC home sites. Seven teams in the WAC play at least one non-conference opponent that competed in the NCAA Tournament last year while Boise State, Fresno State, San Jose State and Utah State are playing a WAC-high three NCAA opponents. Hawai'i and Idaho are playing two, while Nevada is playing one.
UNLV def. Nevada, 5-0
Utah def. Boise State, 3-0
Pepperdine def. Hawai'i, 2-0
UNLV def. Utah State, 2-1
Utah def. Idaho, 4-1
Stanford def. San Jose State, 5-0
Bowling Green def. Boise State, 1-0
Cal Poly def. San Jose State, 4-1
Hawai'i tied Weber State, 0-0 (2OT)
Cal Poly def. Fresno State, 3-0
Weber State def. Idaho, 2-1
Fresno State def. UNLV, 1-0
Utah def. Utah State, 3-0
Santa Clara def. San Jose State, 2-1
Texas A&M def. Boise State, 2-0
Weber State def. Utah State, 1-0
Santa Clara def. Fresno State, 2-0
COLLEGE CUP ?“ The 24th Annual Women?™s College Cup will be held December 2-4 at the Aggie Soccer Complex in College Station, Texas. Last season, the WAC had two teams compete in postseason play, with Rice and SMU both falling in the first round. Visit ncaasports.com/soccer/womens/schedules/divi for more information.
Boise State Broncos (8-5-2, 3-2 WAC) With a, 1-0, win over Idaho, Boise State secured both a WAC Tournament berth and the Gem State championship, by sweeping Idaho and Idaho State ... the nine wins matches last year?™s total as the Broncos now have an opportunity to tie the school record of 10 wins with a victory this weekend and break the record with a sweep over Utah State and Louisiana Tech ... in the win over Idaho, junior keeper Kim Parker set a new school record for career wins with 22, extended her combined shutouts record to 16 and tied the school record for career solo shutouts with nine ... Nicole Coleman continues to lead the Broncos in points with five goals and five assists.
Fresno State Bulldogs (6-6-2, 3-2 WAC) One week remains in the regular season and while Fresno State has already clinched its 11 straight WAC Tournament berth, the focus now involves tournament seeding ... the Bulldogs currently have totaled 10 points, two behind co-leaders Hawai?™i and Nevada ... Fresno State opens this week with its final home match against San Jose State ... two days later, the Bulldogs can improve their seeding when they play at Hawai?™i.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (8-7-2, 4-1 WAC)Hawai'i returns home for its final two regular-season matches of the year ... the Rainbow Wahine take on fellow WAC topper Nevada, fighting for first place ... the pair stand at 4-1, with 12 points and are in the drivers seat for the top seed in the WAC Tournament ... with the return of Natasha Kai (injury) to the lineup, Hawai'i defeated San Jose State, 2-0, to finish its final road swing of the year ... in that win, head coach Pinsoom Tenizing and the Hawai'i soccer program picked up their 100th career win ... Tenzing has coaches all 10 season for the Wahine.
Idaho Vandals (2-15, 0-5 WAC)Idaho hits the road for the final weekend of the season in search of an end to a 13-match losing streak and seven-match scoring drought ... with the WAC Tournament berths already decided, Idaho will play the final two matches of the season with the hopes of building toward the future ... the Vandals head to Louisiana Tech and then to Utah State ... this will be the first meeting between the Vandals and the Lady Techsters ... both teams are teams looking for their first conference win ... this will be the eighth meeting between the Vandals and the Aggies ...the Vandals have struggled with the Aggies as Utah State leads the series with a 6-1 record ... the last meeting between the two teams was in 2004 when the Aggies defeated the Vandals, 3-0, at Moscow.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (7-8, 0-5 WAC)
Louisiana Tech returns home looking for its first WAC win ... the Techsters face a pair of Gem Staters, when Boise State and Idaho come to town ... with the Techsters?™ post-season hopes gone, they will look to towards 2006 ... the Techsters are young with just two non-freshman on the squad ... forward Emily Cleaveland in one of many young standouts, scoring 23 points on nine goals and five assists.
Nevada Wolf Pack (10-5-1, 4-1 WAC)
Nevada finished its home slate with an 8-0-1 record at Mackay Stadium ... the Wolf Pack has turned in its most overall and conference victories this year in addition to qualifying for the WAC postseason for the first time in program history ... Nevada holds can secure the tournament?™s top seed with a win over Hawai'i and at least a tie with San Jose State ... forward Miranda Montejo leads the way for the Wolf Pack, posting eight goals and three assists for 19 points ... good for third in the WAC.
San Jose State Spartans (3-11-2, 3-2 WAC)
San Jose State has locked up a berth to the WAC Tournament and can finish as high as first and low as sixth ... the Spartans travel to Fresno State, then return home for their final regular-season match, taking on Nevada ... the matches are key for seeding with both the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack who currently ahead of the Spartans ... goalkeeper Adrienne Herbst moved into the WAC?™s all-time list for saves with 211.
Utah State State Aggies (4-9-4, 2-2-1 WAC)Utah State punched its ticket to the WAC Tournament with a, 0-0, tie at Fresno State ... the Aggies, which currently sit sixth in the WAC standings, will look to jockey for a higher seed as Boise State and Idaho visit Logan this week for USU?™s final two matches of the regular season ... USU and Boise State face-off on Friday, Oct. 28 at 3:00 p.m., while the Aggies and Vandals kick-off at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday ... The postseason appearance is Utah State?™s first in the program?™s 10 seasons.