WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WAC
Non-conference action continues this week. Air Force is looking for its first win when the Falcons host Cal Poly on Friday while San Jose State also tries to get in the win column with a home match against Saint Mary’s on Sunday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – Houston Baptist’s Kyle Herbison, a senior defender from Parker, Texas (Allen), had a five-point match in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime victory at Army. Herbison scored the first two goals for the Huskies and then assisted on the game-winner in overtime. The goals were the first allowed by Army all season. The five points were the most by a Husky in a match since 2010 and matched the most by a WAC player this year.
DEFENSIVE – Grand Canyon’s Joshua Zehring, a junior goalkeeper from Gilbert, Ariz. (Hamilton), allowed just one goal in the ‘Lopes 1-0 overtime loss at New Hampshire on Saturday. Zehring had five saves in the match for an .833 save percentage. It was his third game this season where he allowed only one goal.
Others nominated on offense:
Alberto Sanchez, So., F, Grand Canyon - had three shots, including one on goal, in the Antelopes’ 1-0 overtime loss at New Hampshire.
Brady Ballew, Jr., F/MF, Seattle U - scored the game-winning goal in overtime in Seattle U’s first win of the season against Florida Gulf Coast.
Also nominated on defense:
George Kelley, So., GK, Houston Baptist - played every minute of HBU’s two wins in New York and had three saves including two just seconds apart to help send the Army game into overtime.
Jake Feener, Sr., GK, Seattle U - was 1-1 last week with eight saves and a .667 save percentage for the Redhawks.
NATIONAL STATISTICS
In this week’s national stats report, Seattle U’s Jake Feener continues to lead the nation in total saves (57). The next best in the country are 47 saves by both Massachusetts’ Nick Ruiz and DePaul’s Eric Sorby. Feener is third in the nation in saves per game with 7.13. As a team, Seattle U is second in the nation in saves per game (7.25).
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.
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
Is in the midst of a six-match homestand ... freshman goalkeeper Jake Schenk has made 5.17 saves per game, the second best mark in the WAC ... he had five against San Diego State and six versus Bradley last week ... the Falcons have not scored a goal since getting one less than three minutes into its first game of the season ... has been outscored, 15-1, during that time ... AFA played men’s soccer in the WAC for three seasons from 1996-1998 ... is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997 after winning the MPSF tournament last year.
Bakersfield Roadrunners
Junior defender Alex Flores scored his first career goal off a Joe Masuimya corner kick in the first half of the match against UC Riverside ... it was the home opener for the Roadrunners, played in front of a crowd of 516 ... CSUB remains unbeaten (4-0-2) against UC Riverside at the Division I level and leads the all-time series 5-1-3 against the Highlanders ... the Sept. 27 match against UC Irvine will be the 12th time that CSUB will be playing against a nationally ranked opponent ... 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
Opens the season with eight consecutive road matches and does not host a non-conference home game (9 matches) ... has allowed 10 goals this season, the second fewest in the WAC ... GK Joshua Zehring is second in the WAC in GAA (1.59) ... 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
Opened the season with its first six on the road ... is off until hosting Oral Roberts on Oct. 1 in its home opener ... the match is the only non-conference home contest for the Huskies ... plays nine of its first 10 matches on the road ... Tobenna Uzo leads the WAC in goals per game (0.83) and points per game (1.67) ... he is tied for the WAC lead in goals with five after scoring twice in the match at LIU-Brooklyn last week ... HBU has attempted the most corners in the WAC this year with 43 ... senior forward Kristopher Tyrpak leads the WAC in shots per game with 4.17.
Kansas City Kangaroos
In its only contest last week, Kansas City jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Incarnate Word, but lost 3-1 ... Jordan Rideout scored the only goal for the ‘Roos on a penalty kick ... it was his first goal of the season and 15th in his career ... UMKC has allowed the fewest goals in the WAC with nine in six matches (1.5 per game) ... has been called offsides a WAC-high 23 times ... senior GK Kevin Corby leads the WAC in GAA (0.68) and save percentage (.875) ... junior GK Chris McGaughey is third in the WAC save percentage (.741).
UNLV Rebels
UNLV opened last week with a 2-1 loss at No. 3 Cal State Northridge ... senior Joaquin Rivas scored his third goal of the year in the second half on the Rebels only shot after the intermission ... sophomore Rodrigo Fuentes notched his fourth goal of the season off an assist by Salvador Bernal in a 2-1 loss at UC Riverside ... UNLV continues to lead the WAC in points (35), assists (11) and goals (12) ... Rodrigo Fuentes leads the WAC in points (11) ... UNLV played men’s soccer in the WAC for three seasons from 1996-1998.
San Jose State Spartans
Plays its next four matches at home ... conceded the only goal of the game at the 83:29 mark in a 1-0 loss against Santa Clara ... in its next match, lost 1-0 again at Oregon State ... Frankie Beauchamp took a game-high six shots, five in the second half, and put one on frame against the Beavers ... keeper Felix Petermann stopped three of the four Oregon State shots ... 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
Freshman F/MF Justin Duerksen made his first collegiate start and scored his first collegiate goal in the overtime win against Florida Gulf Coast ... plays the most NCAA tournament opponents from last year of any WAC team in 2013 with three matches ... Jake Feener leads the nation in saves (57) and is third in the country in saves per match (7.12) ... Miguel Gonzalez leads the WAC in shots (30) and is tied for the WAC lead in goals with five ... he scored both goals (one in each match) for the Redhawks last weekend.