WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WAC
Seattle U hosts Washington tonight at 7:00 p.m. PT. The game will be the first ever for the Redhawks under the lights at home. Conference play resumes on this weekend and features Houston Baptist going for its sixth win in a row at Grand Canyon on Friday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – Houston Baptist’s Patrick Toh, a junior forward from Monrovia, Liberia (Memphis), assisted on the eventual game-winner in the Huskies’ 2-0 win over Oral Roberts and then recorded a career-high three points in a 2-1 victory at Kansas City. He scored his first goal as a Husky player on a penalty kick in the second half to tie the game against UMKC and then assisted on the game-winner later in the period. Toh had four points on the week.
DEFENSIVE – Seattle U’s Jake Feener, a senior goalkeeper from Rocklin, Calif. (Jesuit HS), made eight saves, including five in the second half, in a 4-0 shutout victory at San Jose State on Saturday night. The shutout was the first for Seattle U this year and the seventh for Feener in his career. It was also the sixth time this season he has had eight or more saves in a game. Feener continues to lead the nation in saves with 74 on the year.
Others nominated on offense:
Miguel Gonzalez, Sr., F, Seattle U - scored two goals in the Redhawks 4-0 shutout at San Jose State. He had a total of five shots in the game, three of which were on goal.
Also nominated on defense:
Kevin Suarez, Jr., GK, Houston Baptist - recorded his first shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Oral Roberts. He then made four saves in a 2-1 victory at Kansas City. He ended the week with an .875 save percentage.
Ryan Harding, Jr., GK, UNLV - made five saves in posting a 2-0 shutout over Bakersfield on Sunday. It was his second shutout of his career.
GRAND CANYON-AFA MATCH POSTPONED
Last Saturday’s match between Grand Canyon and Air Force was postponed due to the government shutdown. Air Force has postponed all of its home and away events indefinitely. The Falcons are scheduled to host Kansas City on Friday and Houston Baptist on Sunday, but it is unknown at this time if the matches will be played. If the games cannot be rescheduled, the point system will not be used in the WAC standings and will revert to winning percentage due to the unequal number of games played by all of the conference teams. This will be used to determine the regular season champion as well as seeding into the WAC tournament.
NATIONAL STATISTICS
In this week’s national stats report, Seattle U’s Jake Feener continues to lead the nation in total saves (74). The next best in the country is 65 saves by Ohio State’s Alex Ivanov. Feener is second in the nation in saves per game with 7.40. As a team, Seattle U is tops in the nation in saves per game (7.50).
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.
2014 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
Had its WAC home opener against Grand Canyon on Saturday night postponed due to the government shutdown ... it is unknown at this time if it will be able to play its games against Kansas City and Houston Baptist this weekend ... is 11-8-2 in its previous 21 conference openers including a 3-0 mark as a WAC member (1996-98) ... freshman goalkeeper Jake Schenk has made 5.17 saves per game, the second best mark in the WAC ... 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
Has not scored in its last 347 minutes dating back to the Sept. 19 UC Riverside draw ... is 0-5-1 in its last six contests following back-to-back wins in early September ... has been outscored 17-4 during that time which included matches against three top-25 opponents ... is on the road this weekend and will have played nine of its first 11 away from home ... GK Anthony Perez is the only WAC player to record multiple shutouts this season (2) ... he is second in the WAC in saves with 36 ... head coach Simon Tobin is in his 27th season and is two wins shy of reaching 300 for his career (298-183-53).
Grand Canyon Antelopes
After opening the season with seven straight road matches, plays its home opener on Friday when it hosts Houston Baptist ... Kyle Ciliento is one goal shy of tying the school record of 55 career goals ... sophomore F Alberto Sanchez Garcia has put eight of his 19 shot attempts on goal this season ... 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
Has a five-match winning streak (its longest since the 2010 season) and has won six of its last seven ... is the only WAC team to not be shut out this year ... Tobenna Uzo leads the WAC in goals per game (0.88) and points per game (1.75) ... he is tied for the WAC lead in goals with seven and is the only WAC player with multiple game-winning goals (2) ... Kyle Herbison and Patrick Toh are tied for second in the WAC with 0.38 assists per game ... HBU has the most corners in the WAC this year with 51 ... senior forward Kristopher Tyrpak leads the WAC in shots per game with 3.88.
Kansas City Kangaroos
Is 0-3-1 in its last four matches ... is scheduled to play at Air Force in its next game on Friday, but the status of that match is unknown at this time ... Jordan Rideout scored the ‘Roos’ only goal of the game against HBU last Saturday ... the goal was his third in the last four games, and the 17th of his career, tying him for sixth all-time at UMKC ... UMKC has allowed the fewest goals per game in the WAC (1.44) ... has been called offsides a WAC-high 44 times ... Jordan Rideout is second in the WAC in shots (32) and shots per game (3.56) ... senior GK Kevin Corby leads the WAC in GAA (0.55) and save percentage (.882).
UNLV Rebels
The shutout against Bakersfield was the first for the Rebels since Oct. 12 of last year ... it broke a five-game losing streak against the ‘Runners .. UNLV’s two goals against Bakersfield matched its total in the previous four games combined ... the game-winner was provided by sophomore defender Jason Khamvongsa with his first career goal ... junior F Salvador Bernal scored the second goal, his first of the season ... the Rebels leads the WAC in shots with 152 and is second in the WAC in goals per game (1.56) ... UNLV played men’s soccer in the WAC for three seasons from 1996-1998.
San Jose State Spartans
Faces Bakersfield on Friday ... in the last match between the two teams on Oct. 12, 2012, San Jose State scored a goal with five seconds remaining to win, 1-0 ... the Spartans have been shut out in each of its last four matches and haven’t scored since the first half against Cal Poly on Sept. 15 ... sophomore GK Emmanuel Espinosa is third in the WAC in GAA (1.65) and saves per game (4.75) ... 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
Faces third-ranked Washington (7-0-3) tonight in the first ever night home game for SU ... the lights were in the process of being installed earlier this season ... SU won two of its last three after starting the season 0-6-1 ... Miguel Gonzalez’s two goals against SJSU were the seventh time a WAC player has scored two goals in a game this year ... Hamza Haddadi and Brady Ballew also scored goals in the game ... Jake Feener leads the nation in saves (74) and is second in the country in saves per match (7.40) ... Miguel Gonzalez leads the WAC in shots (35) and is tied for the WAC lead in goals with seven.