United Athletic Conference

WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WAC
The WAC’s regular season comes to a close this weekend.  On Friday, Grand Canyon hosts Air Force, with the remaining six teams playing on Saturday evening.  The WAC Tournament begins next Thursday, November 14 with Seattle U already clinching the number one seed following its win at Kansas City last Sunday.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – Seattle U’s Jonathan Massimino, a freshman from San Ramon, Calif. (California HS), scored two goals, including the game-winner at Kansas City on Sunday afternoon.  After the Redhawks trailed 3-1, Massimino scored in the 87th minute to break a 3-3 tie.  Earlier on Friday, he scored Seattle U’s only goal in a 1-1 draw at Houston Baptist. For the week, he took five shots, including three on goal.

DEFENSIVE – Houston Baptist’s Kevin Suarez, a junior goalkeeper from Houston, Texas (Cypress Falls) helped the Huskies tie the WAC’s only unbeaten team, Seattle U, 1-1, and then earned his second shutout on the season in a 5-0 blanking of San Jose State on Sunday. Against Seattle U, the biggest of his three saves came in the 97th minute, when the WAC’s leading scorer, Miguel Gonzalez, was awarded a penalty kick. Suarez made a diving stop to keep the match alive. Suarez made five saves in the two matches and had a 0.45 goals-against average and an .833 save percentage.
 
Others nominated on offense:
Joe Masumiya, Jr., MF, Bakersfield - scored the first goal in a 2-1 win over Grand Canyon and had the team’s only goal on a penalty kick in a 2-1 loss against Air Force.
Daniel Wall, Fr., MF, Grand Canyon - scored his first career goal on his only shot of the game in a 3-1 loss against UNLV.
Stefan Lamanna, Fr., F, Houston Baptist - scored the equalizer in a 1-1 draw against Seattle U and added an assist in the Huskies’ 5-0 win over San Jose State.

Also nominated on defense:
Jake Schenk, Fr., GK, Air Force - allowed just one goal as Air Force went 1-0-1 over the weekend.  He had his first career shutout in a 0-0 draw against UNLV and then added his first career victory against Bakersfield.  He had 14 saves during the two matches.
Joshua Zehring, Jr., GK, Grand Canyon - in two matches, had five saves including four in a 2-1 loss against Bakersfield.
Bradley Kamdem, So., D, UNLV - helped hold UNLV’s opponents to just one goal over the weekend and assisted on the game-winning goal against Grand Canyon.
Jake Feener, Sr., GK, Seattle U - made 15 saves over the weekend to help the Redhawks to a 1-0-1 record, keeping Seattle U undefeated in WAC play.
 
SEATTLE U WINS REGULAR SEASON TITLE
Seattle U clinched the WAC’s regular season title following its 4-3 win at Kansas City on Sunday.  The Redhawks are 6-0-3 in conference play and will be the number one seed in next week’s WAC Tournament.

WAC TO STREAM TOURNAMENT
The WAC will stream all of the matches of the 2013 WAC Men’s Soccer Tournament. Viewers can sign up by visiting www.WAC.tv. The tournament will be held at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, Nov. 14-15, and 17, and will feature the top seven teams in the WAC.  Three first round matches will be played on Thursday, Nov. 14 with the winners moving on to the semifinals (along with the top seed) the next day.  The championship will be played at 12:00 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, Nov. 17. All six matches can be seen on WAC.tv by accessing the soccer tournament package for a one-time price of $11.95.

ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONOREES
Four WAC men’s soccer players have been named to the Capitol One Academic All-District Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Air Force sophomore midfielder Luke Villamaria, Grand Canyon grad forward Kyle Ciliento, Kansas City junior defender Michael Oakley, and Seattle U sophomore Michael Roberts each earned first team honors.  First Team honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot where first, second, and third team All-America honorees will be selected in November.

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 (127).  The next best in the country is 102 saves by Georgia Southern’s Neal Bates.  Feener is also first in the nation in saves per game with 6.68.  As a team, Seattle U is tops in the nation in saves per game (6.74).

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.