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.
NCAA OPPONENTS
WAC teams will play in eight matches against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year. Only two of the matches will be played at WAC home sites and both are at Seattle U as the Redhawks host Florida Gulf Coast and Washinton. Seattle U plays a third match against a 2012 NCAA Tournament participant when it travels to UMBC for its opener. Bakersfield and Kansas City each play two matches against non-conference opponents that competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
Aug. 30 Seattle U at UMBC
Sept. 1 UNLV at UMBC
Sept. 13 Bakersfield at Indiana
Sept. 13 Kansas City vs. Tulsa (Dallas)
Sept. 15 Bakersfield at Louisville
Sept. 15 Kansas City at SMU
Sept. 22 Florida Gulf Coast at Seattle U
Oct. 8 Washington at Seattle U
2013 PERSONNEL CAPSULE
Four of the eight teams in the WAC return at least seven starters for the 2013 season. Kansas City leads the way returning nine starters from last year’s squad.
2013 NCAA COLLEGE CUP
The 55th Annual Men’s College Cup will be held Dec. 13 and 15, 2013, in Philadelphia at the PPL Park. Last season, Air Force competed in postseason play falling in the first round to Washington, 1-0. Grand Canyon competed in the NCAA Division II Tournament and advanced to the third round before losing to Simon Fraser, 2-1. The following is a list of sites and dates for the 2013 NCAA Tournament:
First Round (48)
November 21, 2013
On campus sites TBD
Second Round (32)
November 24, 2013
On campus sites TBD
Third Round (16)
December 1, 2013
On campus sites TBD
Quarterfinals (8)
December 6-8, 2013
On campus sites TBD
Men’s College Cup
December 13 and 15, 2013
PPL Park
Phladelphia, Pa.
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
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 ... Downey was named the WAC’s preseason defensive player of the year ... the Falcons return 31 percent of the team’s goals and 21 percent of their assists from last season ... Air Force was 2-0-1 versus top-10 ranked New Mexico last season.
Bakersfield Roadrunners
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 ... a matchup against defending national champion Indiana (Sept. 13) highlights the non-conference slate for the Roadrunners.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
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, 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 ... the ‘Lopes have posted eight consecutive winning seasons.
Houston Baptist Huskies
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 ... 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) ... Walter Kromholz enters 2013 as the all-time program leader in career minutes played.
Kansas City Kangaroos
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) ... Rideout was named the WAC preseason offensive player of the year ... UMKC has won four regular season league titles during its history (1998, 2001, 2003, 2010) ... seven of the 15 schools on Kansas City’s 2013 schedule have never played the ‘Roos.
UNLV Rebels
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 ... UNLV will feature 14 players from the Las Vegas/Henderson area ... makes its first trip to the Northeast since 1996 with a pair of games to begin the year at Delaware and UMBC.
San Jose State Spartans
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 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.
Seattle U Redhawks
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 ... assistant 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.