On tap in the wac ? The second week of conference play begins this week in the Western Athletic Conference after a first week that saw Utah State (2-0), Fresno State (1-0-1) and Louisiana Tech (0-0-2) to be the only teams to come out week unscathed and without a loss. San Jose State heads to Cal State Bakersfield for its final non-conference match of the season on Wednesday, Oct. 15 before making the trip to Hawai?i to battle the Rainbow Wahine on Oct. 19. Louisiana Tech will look to build on its best start in school history when it hosts Fresno State on Oct. 17 while Nevada travels to Logan to take on the undefeated Aggies.
In Sunday’s action, Nevada will stay on the road when it takes on Louisiana Tech in Ruston as Utah State hosts its third home game of conference play when Fresno State completes its weekend road trip in Logan. Boise State will travel north to in-state rival Idaho, both teams in search of that first win.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK - Utah State’s Lauren Hansen and Fresno State’s Kaitlyn Revel have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.
Hansen, a sophomore forward from Camano Island, Wash. (Stanwood HS), had three points in the Aggies’ wins against Idaho and Boise State over the weekend. The striker scored her first game-winning goal of the season in a 2-0 win over the Broncos off a header in the 70th minute. She also assisted on Utah State’s second goal in a 4-0 victory against the Vandals. Hansen helped the Aggies start 2-0 in conference play for the first time in program history and now leads the team in points scored with 12. This marks the first time Hansen has garnered Player of the Week honors.
Revel, a sophomore goalkeeper from San Mateo, Calif. (Aragon HS), recorded her fifth and sixth shutouts of the season over the weekend. Revel totaled 18 saves and one point in two double overtime games against San Jose State and Hawai?i. Not only did she not allow a goal all weekend, the goalkeeper assisted on the game-winning goal against San Jose State. The sophomore helped the Bulldogs to a 1-0-1 record to begin conference play. It is the second time in as many weeks that Revel has earned WAC Player of the Week honors and the fourth time in her career.
Other offensive nominees included: Louisiana Tech’s Denis Wilson had a goal in the 85th minute against Boise State to cut the deficit to 2-1, Tech later scored to tie the game 2-2. Emmy Belding of San Jose State scored her third game-winning goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Nevada. Fresno State’s Ali Sill picked up an assist on a game-winning goal in a 1-0 double overtime win over San Jose State, Sill broke the Fresno State record of career assists with 22.
Other defensive nominees included: San Jose State’s Nina Butera made seven saves without allowing a goal on the weekend, including six in a 1-0 win over Nevada. Brooke Lanie of Louisiana Tech helped hold Idaho to zero goals in a double overtime tie as well as assisting on a goal in a 2-2 tie at Boise State. Ali Griffin of Utah State posted two shutouts in as many wins and made seven saves against Idaho and Boise State over the weekend. Nevada’s Patrice Godwin scored the game-winning goal against Hawai?i and also anchored a defense that recorded the Pack’s third shutout of the season.
SNOWED OUT ? The Boise State/Louisiana Tech game ended in a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation due to a massive snowstorm that came through Boise.
TWO IS THE LUCKIEST NUMBER ? With its 2-0 conference start, Utah State is off to its best conference start in the history of the program. Louisiana Tech is sitting in fifth place with two points after the first weekend. The two points earned this week matches the points by the Tech program in the first 21 WAC games (past three seasons).
ROAD FIELD ADVANTAGE ? WAC road teams ended the weekend with a 3-2-3 record, with just Utah State and Nevada earning wins at their home complexes.
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (7-5-2, 0-1-1 WAC)
Boise State enters the week at 7-5-2 overall and 0-1-1 in league play. The Broncos struggled last week in their first home matches in six weeks. On Friday versus Louisiana Tech during the WAC opener, they surrendered a two-goal lead late in the match in the middle of a major snow storm to settle for a 2-2 draw. They then dropped a 2-0 decision on Sunday to Utah State. This week they have one match on the schedule and that is a trip to Moscow, Idaho to face rival University of Idaho on Sunday, Oct.19. Shannon Saxton continues to lead Boise State in scoring with a team-high six goals and five assists for 17 points. BSU hits the road to face an in-state rival, Idaho on Sunday, Oct. 19.
Fresno State Bulldogs (5-7-2, 1-0-1 WAC)
The Bulldogs opened conference play with a double overtime win against San Jose State. Gutierrez scored her fifth goal with four seconds left on the clock. Kaitlyn Revel and Ali Sill recorded assists on the play. Revel and the Bulldog defense recorded yet another shutout this year in the 1-0 win. The Bulldogs faced another overtime match against Hawai?i. The Bulldog defense kept the defending WAC champions scoreless after 110 minutes of play. Revel recorded 18 saves and two shutouts on the weekend. The Bulldogs played a total of 220 minutes of soccer over the weekend. Fresno State takes its 1-0-1 conference record to Ruston to face the Lady Techsters on Friday, Oct. 17 and then travel to Logan to take on Utah State on Sunday, Oct. 19.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (4-5-4, 0-1-1 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine opened conference play with a 0-1-1 record as they were defeated by Nevada and then took Fresno State to an even draw to close out the first weekend of conference play. It marked only the second and third games that UH has not registered a goal this season and it ranks second with 24 overall goals this season. UH is in action just once this week as it hosts San Jose State in a Sunday night match-up (Oct. 19).
Idaho Vandals (1-11-2, 0-1-1 WAC)
Idaho struggled out of the gates to begin conference play with a 4-0 loss at the hands of Utah State, but then the Vandals found their rhythm when they took Louisiana Tech to a 0-0 double overtime draw in Sunday’s match. UI will looks to gear up for its in-state rival Boise State, when the Broncos head to Moscow on Sunday, Oct. 19.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (10-2-3, 0-0-2 WAC)
Tech started WAC play with two ties on the road against Boise State and Idaho. In its previous three seasons of WAC play, Tech was 0-19-2 in league games. The two points earned this week matches the point total of Tech’s first 21 WAC games (past three seasons). Denise Wilson scored her fifth goal of the season in the 85th minute against Boise State (it broke the program single season team record with 43 goals on the year). One minute later, Oliva Lukasewich scored her team-leading seventh goal to give Tech the tie against the Broncos (no overtime was played due to the deteriorating field goals caused by the snow)
Nevada Wolf Pack (1-10-2, 1-1 WAC)
The Wolf Pack comes off a successful weekend as it defeated league favorite Hawai?i for it first win of the season on Friday, Oct. 10 before losing a heartbreaker to San Jose State, 1-0 on Sunday, Oct. 12. Senior leader Patrice Godwin had the game-winning goal for Nevada in the first conference game of the season in Reno. Nevada is now just one of four teams with a conference win. The team starts a two-game road trip when it heads to Utah State on Friday, Oct. 17 and then travels east to Louisiana Tech on the following Sunday (Oct. 19).
San Jose State Spartans (3-7-3, 1-1 WAC)
After a thrilling double-overtime loss to Fresno State, the Spartans bounced back to steal a 1-0 win away from Nevada over the weekend. SJSU received yet another game-winning goal from Emmy Belding, her third of the year. The Spartans play one final non-conference game against California foe Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday, Oct. 15 before heading out to Honolulu to take on Hawai?i.
Utah State Aggies (7-7-1, 2-0 WAC)
The Aggies start 2-0 for the first time ever, including four years in the WAC and nine seasons in the Big West Conference. For the first time this season all four goals scored in the win against Idaho were scored by freshman. Shantel Flanary scored two goals and Summer Tillotson and Marissa Sanchez scored the other two goals. Sanchez scored her first collegiate goal. Tillotson has two goals this season and both are game-winners.