2013 WAC Men's Preseason Poll and All-WAC Team
2013 WAC Men's Soccer Media Guide
2013 WAC Men's Soccer Composite Schedule
Air Force Falcons
Head Coach: Doug Hill (Air Force, '83)
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Falcon Links |
| 2012 Record: 19-9-4 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 3/8 |
Roster |
Notes
Air Force returns to the WAC in men’s soccer after 14 years in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Falcons were in the WAC from 1996-98.
AFA is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997. The Falcons won the MPSF tournament by beating top seed New Mexico. Air Force lost at Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Three starters return from last season in F Brian Klazura, M Scott McGillivray and D Caleb Downey.
The Falcons return 31 percent of the team’s goals and 21 percent of their assists from last season.
Three of the Falcons’ top four scorers graduated last year, including their top two scorers Kevin Durr (15 points) and Zane Dydasco (11 points).
Air Force was 2-0-1 versus top-10 ranked New Mexico last season. The Lobos were 17-2 against other teams during the year.
Bakersfield Roadrunners
Head Coach: Simon Tobin (Nonington College, '83)
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Roadrunner Links |
| 2012 Record: 9-5-5 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 5/6 |
Roster |
Notes
Junior Lucas Dall’Orso is expected to take on the burden of leading the Roadrunner offense. A 2012 second team all-conference selection, Dall’Orso tied for the team lead in assists (9) with Gyasi Zardes. He tied the Bakersfield Division I record for most assists in a match with three (the third most ever in a MPSF match) at Seattle U. He scored three goals including the game winner in double overtime at UNLV.
Junior Joe Masumiya earned honorable mention all-conference honors in 2012. He tied the CSUB Division I school record with three assists against Seattle U, which was the third most in a MPSF match in league history.
Four-year letterwinner, and three-year starter Eric Shannon graduated after playing every minute in goal of the 2012 season. Three players will compete for the starting job. Anthony Perez redshirted in 2012 after playing in two matches as a true freshman in 2011. Eric Garcia and Hector Valdez have also redshirted during their career.
A matchup against defending national champion Indiana (Sept. 13) highlights the non-conference slate for the Roadrunners. Bakersfield will complete the Indiana trip with a stop at Louisville (Sept. 15), a program which reached last year’s quarterfinals.
Bakersfield’s Gyasi Zardes was named MPSF Player of the Year in 2012 for the second consecutive season. Zardes signed a homegrown contract with the two-time defending MLS Champion Los Angeles Galaxy and has become a regular starter for the team in 2013.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Head Coach: Petar Draksin (Glendale, '85)
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Antelope Links |
| 2012 Record: 16-3-1 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 6/5 |
Roster |
Notes
In 1996, GCU won the NCAA Division II National Championship, beating Oakland University (MI) 3-1 in the championship game to cap a 12-4-5 season.
Grand Canyon won five Pacific West Conference titles in its seven seasons as members of the conference.
Its 16 wins last season were the most since the squad won 17 contests in 1999.
Had the Pacific West Conference Player of the Year for the past four seasons, with Kyle Ciliento winning the award in 2009 and 2010 and Saeed Robinson taking the honor in 2011 and 2012.
GCU recorded its 200th career win in 2003. During that year and for the fourth straight season, the Antelopes competed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. GCU was the first school to accomplish that feat in the league and the first to bring a national championship to the CCAA, a conference that has been around since 1938 and was the home to a number of prestigious soccer schools such as UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
The ‘Lopes posted eight consecutive winning seasons including last year’s mark of 16-3-1.
Houston Baptist Huskies
Head Coach: Steve Jones (Judson College, '93)
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Husky Links |
| 2012 Record: 4-10-2 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 7/4 |
Roster |
Notes
HBU enters its first season in the WAC. The Huskies were in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) in 2012 and the Atlantic Soccer Conference (ASC) from 2008-11.
HBU faced four MPSF opponents a season ago that have also joined the WAC in 2013: Air Force, Bakersfield, Seattle U and UNLV.
Head coach Steve Jones was named ASC Coach of the Year in 2010, after leading the Huskies to a 7-8-3 overall mark and a 3-0-1 record in conference play. Entering his eighth season at HBU, Jones has a record of 50-55-11. He has a career record of 200-188-20, entering his 19th season of coaching.
HBU returns 11 letterwinners from a season ago, including 2010 ASC Rookie of the Year, senior forward Kristopher Tyrpak. He enters 2013 in the Top 10 in program history in career assists and career game-winning goals. Tyrpak is eight points shy of cracking the Top 10 in career points in program history (he has 39 points entering 2013).
Senior defender Walter Kromholz enters 2013 as the all-time program leader in career minutes played, with 4171. He played a program-record 1686 minutes in 2010.
Kansas City Kangaroos
Head Coach: Rick Benben (SIUE, '73)
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Kangaroo Links |
| 2012 Record: 7-10-2 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost:9/2 |
Roster |
Notes
UMKC plays in one of the top college soccer stadiums in the Midwest – Durwood Stadium.
Kansas City posted a 6-2 home record last season.
This year’s team returns 15 letterwinners and 9 starters. On its entire roster, 18 players are either a junior or senior.
Juniors Jordan Rideout and Michael Oakley, along with senior Guerrero Pino, lead nine returning starters to the lineup, while the ‘Roos also added 11 newcomers to the roster (5 transfers, 6 freshmen.
13 players on the roster are from Missouri or Kansas. Kansas City also has nine international players from five different continents. Countries include: Ireland, England, Scotland, Ghana, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.
UMKC has won four regular season league titles during its history (1998, 2001, 2003, 2010).
The Kangaroos have made three NCAA Tournament appearances (2001, 2003, 2008) and advanced to the Round of 32 in 2001.
Seven of the 15 schools on Kansas City’s 2013 schedule have never played the ‘Roos.
UNLV Rebels
Head Coach: Rich Ryerson (UNLV, '87)
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Rebel Links |
| 2012 Record: 6-14-1 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 7/4 |
Roster |
Notes
This will be the 40th year for the men’s soccer program at UNLV.
The Rebels return seven starters from a year ago, including four of the top five starters, as well as senior goalkeeper Joe Vitale. He will be one of two goalies with starting experience on the squad, as Ryan Harding makes his return to the Rebels after a medical redshirt in 2012 while undergoing successful cancer treatments.
Highlighting the returnees is Las Vegas native Salvador Bernal, the 2011 MPSF Newcomer of the year and a two-time first-team All-MPSF selection, the only underclassmen on last year’s first team.
UNLV will feature 14 players from the Las Vegas/Henderson area.
Highlights of the schedule include UNLV’s first trip to the Northeast since 1996 with a pair of games to begin the year at Delaware and UMBC. The Rebels will also face three NCAA tournament teams from a year ago, all on the road (Sept. 1 at UMBC, Sept. 20 at Cal State Northridge, Nov. 1 at Air Force).
UNLV will open their home schedule on Friday, Sept. 6, hosting Bradley as part of the UNLV Nike Invitational. The weekend will also feature a Sunday, Sept. 8 contest against Georgia State.
San Jose State Spartans
Head Coach: Gary St. Clair (San Jose State, '75)
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Spartan Links |
| 2012 Record: 8-9-1 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 4/7 |
Roster |
Notes
San Jose State returns only three players who scored last season (returning three of 28 total goals).
San Jose State’s roster has seven players that hail from outside the United States including six from from England and one from from Germany.
Stephen Ralos is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Spartans. He led Cloud County Community College (Concordia, Kan.) to the 2011 National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) National Championship, finishing the season on an 18-game unbeaten streak.
San Jose State played men’s soccer in the WAC for four seasons 1996-1999 and in two of those seasons – 1997 and 1999 – produced the conference’s Freshman of the Year.
The 2013 side features no seniors and only seven players who saw action from last year’s team.
Seattle U Redhawks
Head Coach: Pete Fewing (Washington, '84)
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Redhawk Links |
| 2012 Record: 3-13-1 |
Complete Schedule |
| Starters Returning/Lost: 8/3 |
Roster |
Notes
Seattle U joins the WAC after four years in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).
The Redhawks took on several nationally ranked opponents last season, including UC Santa Barbara and New Mexico.
Six members of the team received MPSF All-Academic honors in 2012.
Recent graduate Marshall Kosaka and current sophomore Jose Merlo earned All-MPSF recognition last season based on voting by the conference’s head coaches.
The Redhawks return 11 letterwinners and eight starters from the 2012 campaign.
New assistant coach Nate Daligcon joins the staff for the upcoming season after coaching several local club teams since 2004.
The Redhawks will face three teams that were in last year’s NCAA Tournament – Air Force, Washington and UMBC.