WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WAC
With three weeks left in the regular season, Seattle U leads the WAC with 13 points. The Redhawks host Air Force and Grand Canyon this weekend. Kansas City is second with 10 points and travels to UNLV and Bakersfield.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – Seattle U’s Miguel Gonzalez, a senior forward from Yelm, Wash. (Peninsula College), scored three goals in two road wins for the Redhawks last week. Gonzalez had five shots and scored twice in Seattle U’s 2-0 victory at UNLV on Friday. Two days later with the scored tied 1-1 at Bakersfield, Gonzalez hit the game-winner in the 82nd minute to give Seattle U the weekend sweep. Gonzalez leads the WAC in goals (12) and points (25) on the season.
DEFENSIVE – Kansas City’s Michael Oakley, a junior defender from Lee’s Summit, Mo. (Lee’s Summit North HS), helped the Kangaroos to a 2-0 record, allowing just one goal in the two matches combined. After beating Air Force, 2-1, on Friday, Kansas City shut out Grand Canyon, 2-0, on Sunday. In the shutout, Oakley led a defense that held the ‘Lopes to just six shots, none on goal. Oakley also added three shots over the weekend, two of which were on frame.
Others nominated on offense:
Alberto Sanchez, So., F, Grand Canyon - scored two goals in the ‘Lopes’ 3-0 win at Houston Baptist. It was his first multiple game of the season and his first game-winner. He had a total of nine shots over the weekend.
Tobenna Uzo, Fr., F, Houston Baptist - scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 1-1 draw against Air Force. The goal camewith 12 minutes left in regulation to tie the match.
Tato Chiaparro, Jr., F, Kansas City - scored a goal and had two assists in Kansas City’s two wins over the weekend. Against Air Force, he scored a goal and then assisted on the game-winner. He then tallied an assist on the second goal in the 85th minute of a 2-0 victory over Grand Canyon.
Also nominated on defense:
Joshua Zehring, Jr., GK, Grand Canyon - recorded his first shutout of the season with a 3-0 victory at Houston Baptist, recording six saves in the win. Zehring added four saves in a 2-0 loss at Kansas City.
Jake Feener, Sr., GK, Seattle U - played all 180 minutes and recorded two wins for the Redhawks. Feener shutout UNLV, 2-0, making two saves and then had five saves in a 2-1 victory over Bakersfield on Sunday.
TOBIN WINS 300TH
Bakersfield defeated San Jose State, 1-0, on Friday night to give head coach Simon Tobin his 300th career victory. Tobin became the 16th active Division I men’s soccer coach with at least 300 victories in a career and is only the 91st in the history of NCAA men’s soccer (at all levels) to win at least 300 in a career. In 27 years, he is 300-187-54 at the helm of the Roadrunners.
GONZALEZ TIED FOR NATIONAL LEAD IN GOALS
Seattle U senior forward Miguel Gonzalez is tied for the national lead in goals after scoring three times last week. Gonzalez has 12 goals on the year, tied with Gardner-Webb’s Denzel Clarke and Maryland’s Patrick Mullins. His 25 points on the season are tied for the third most in the country.
FEENER LEADS NATION IN SAVES
In this week’s national stats report, Seattle U’s Jake Feener continues to lead the nation in total saves (98). The next best in the country is 80 saves by Ohio State’s Alex Ivanov. Feener is third in the nation in saves per game with 6.5. As a team, Seattle U is fourth in the nation in saves per game (6.6).
GRAND CANYON-AFA MATCH RESCHEDULED
The match between Grand Canyon and Air Force that was postponed earlier this month due to the government shutdown has been reschedule. The makeup date is Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 6:00 p.m. MT and will be played at the Air Force Academy.
MEN’S SOCCER RETURNS TO THE WAC
For the first time since 1999, the WAC is sponsoring men’s soccer. The league is made up of eight teams divided into two divisions and includes both full time members of the WAC and affiliates. The East Division is comprised of Air Force (affiliate), Grand Canyon, Houston Baptist (affiliate) and Kansas City. The West Division consists of Bakersfield, UNLV (affiliate), San Jose State (affiliate) and Seattle U. Six of the eight teams competed together in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) the past few years while Kansas City comes to the WAC from the Summit League and Grand Canyon is transitioning from Division II to Division I. Air Force and UNLV competed in the WAC from 1996-98 while San Jose State participated in men’s soccer from 1996-99.
REGULAR SEASON FORMAT
Regular-season play consists of a double round-robin format within each division and a single round-robin against the other division for a total of 10 matches. The points system is as follows: each team will receive three points for a win and one point for a tie.
2013 WAC TOURNAMENT
The WAC Men’s Soccer Tournament will be held at the Air Force Academy, November 14-15 and 17. Every team except Grand Canyon will participate as the Antelopes are ineligible due to their transition from Division II to Division I. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased online by going to the WAC’s website at wacsports.com and clicking on the Championships link.
FUTURE MEMBERS
The WAC will expand its men’s soccer league over the next couple of years with new programs from some of its full-time members. Utah Valley will begin play in 2014 while it is also expected to add Chicago State and Texas-Pan American in 2015.
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Air Force Falcons
After starting the season with an eight-game losing streak, the Falcons are 1-1-2 in its last four matches ... in a 2-1 loss at Kansas City, Luke Villamaria scored a game-tying goal in the 61st minute before Air Force allowed the game-winner 99 seconds later ... freshman Ryan Ward scored the team’s only goal in a 1-1 draw at Houston Baptist ... is second in the WAC in saves with 67 ... AFA played men’s soccer in the WAC for three seasons from 1996-1998 ... is coming off its first NCAA appearance since 1997 after winning the MPSF tournament last year.
Bakersfield Roadrunners
After a stretch of going 0-5-1, Bakersfield has gone 2-1-1 in its last four matches ... remains at home this weekend with games against Houston Baptist and Kansas City ... coach Simon Tobin’s 300th win came on a goal by Giovanni Godoy with 3:54 remaining in the second half of a 1-0 win over SJSU ... Hugo Vinales scored the only goal for the ‘Runners in a 2-1 loss against Seattle U ... CSUB has the most shutouts in the WAC with three ... Anthony Perez has two of those and is second in the WAC in saves per game (4.89) ... Joe Masumiya is tied for second in the WAC in game-winning goals with two.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
The win over Houston Baptist last Friday was the first for the Antelopes since beating Nebraska-Omaha on Aug. 30 in its season opener ... the win also snapped a streak of five straight losses by one goal ... Kyle Ciliento is one goal shy of tying the school record of 55 career goals ... he is tied for third in the WAC with 1.0 points per game ... is making the jump up to Division I this season but is ineligble for the WAC’s and NCAA’s postseason due to the transition ... in 1996, GCU won the NCAA Division II National Championship ... the ‘Lopes have posted eight consecutive winning seasons.
Houston Baptist Huskies
Is 0-2-1 in its last three matches after a six-game winning streak ... the 3-0 loss to Grand Canyon marked the first time the Huskies had been shut out this year ... HBU leads the WAC in shots per game (19.2), goals per game (1.67) and assists per game (1.33) ... Tobenna Uzo is second in the WAC in points per game (1.50) and goals per game (0.75) ... he is also tied for second in game-winning goals with two ... Uzo’s ninth goal of the season tied the match with Air Force, 1-1 ... HBU outshot Air Force, 27-14, in the match ... Patrick Toh is tied for first in the WAC with 0.33 assists per game.
Kansas City Kangaroos
After a stretch in which it went 0-3-1, Kansas City is 3-0-1 in its last four matches ... Alioune Gueye and Tom McCarthy each scored their first goals of the season in the 2-0 win over Grand Canyon ... Grand Canyon had no shots on goal in the match ...
... UMKC has allowed the fewest goals per game in the WAC (1.31) ... has been called offsides a WAC-high 48 times ... Jordan Rideout is second in the WAC in shots (50) and shots per game (3.85) ... he is third in the WAC in goals with six ... GK Chris McGaughey is second in the WAC in saves (47) and saves per game (4.27).
UNLV Rebels
Is 2-3 in its last five with both wins coming via shutout ... the two shutouts ties UNLV for second in the WAC ... Rodrigo Fuentes had his first game-winner of the season in the Rebels’ 1-0 shutout of San Jose State ... Fuentes is third in the WAC in points per game (1.0) ... UNLV is second in the WAC in shots per game (15.92) and assists per game (1.15) ... Salvador Bernal and Julian Portugal are tied for second in the WAC in assists with four apiece ... Ryan Harding leads the WAC in goals against average (1.21) ... UNLV played men’s soccer in the WAC for three seasons from 1996-1998.
San Jose State Spartans
Have been shutout in six of their last eight matches including the past two ... has seven one-goal losses, including five with the score, 1-0 ... sophomore GK Emmanuel Espinosa is second in the WAC in GAA (1.24) and save percentage (.791) ... he is third in saves per game (4.86) and leads the WAC in shutouts per game with 0.29 ... San Jose State played men’s soccer in the WAC for four seasons from 1996-1999 and in two of those years – 1997 and 1999 – produced the conference’s Freshman of the Year.
Seattle U Redhawks
Since Sept. 22, SU is 5-2-1 including a 3-0-1 mark in its last four matches ... in the 2-0 win over UNLV, the Redhawks were outshot 17-10, but only two Rebel shots were on goal ... Seattle U leads the WAC in points (62) and goals (23) and is tied for the lead in assists (16) ... Miguel Gonzalez leads the WAC in shots (60) and points (25) and is tied for the national lead in goals with 12 ... he also leads the WAC in game-winning goals with three ... Hamza Haddadi leads the WAC in assists with five ... Jake Feener leads the nation in saves (98) and is first in the WAC in save percentage (.803).