WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WACThe third weekend of conference play features league-leading UNLV returning home for matches against Air Force and UMKC. Incarnate Word puts its 2-0 mark on the line with a road trip to Bakersfield and San Jose State. Travel partners Utah Valley and Seattle U face off in a key matchup between two teams tied for fifth place.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – San Jose State’s Rory Knibbs, a sophomore forward from London, England (Bradfield College), helped lead San Jose State to its first unbeaten weekend of road conference play in two years. On Friday at Air Force, he scored two goals in the Spartans’ 5-1 victory. On Sunday, he had the equalizer in the 68th minute to give San Jose State a 1-1 draw at Missouri-Kansas City. His three goals in conference play are tied for the WAC lead.
DEFENSIVE – Incarnate Word’s Joe Brown, a sophomore defender from Nottingham, England (The Becket School), was instrumental in the Cardinals’ second consecutive shutout on Saturday night. Houston Baptist had 17 shots in the game, but only two were on goal. Brown cleared and broke up numerous set pieces in preserving a 2-0 road victory.
Others nominated on offense:
Alex de la Garza, Sr., MF, Incarnate Word - scored both goals in a 2-0 victory at Houston Baptist.
Danny Musovski, Fr., F, UNLV - contributed to each goal in a 3-1 victory at Seattle U on Friday night. Mosovski scored two goals and assisted on another while taking six shots during the match.
Kyle Bjornethun, So., D, Seattle U - scored his first career goal with the game-winner against Grand Canyon on Sunday after previously assisting on the Redhawks only goal in a match versus UNLV on Friday.
Skyler Milne, So., MF, Utah Valley - scored the team’s only goal of the weekend in a 1-0 victory over Grand Canyon on Friday. The goal came in the 84th minute on a throw-in.
Also nominated on defense:
Chris McGaughey, Sr., GK, UMKC - allowed just one goal in both games played last week, including a 1-1 draw against San Jose State and a 1-0 loss versus Bakersfield. He had eight saves over the weekend.
Ryan Harding, Sr., GK, UNLV - racked up his league-leading sixth complete shutout with a 1-0 victory at Utah Valley on Sunday after allowing just one goal in a 3-1 win at Seattle U on Friday. For the week, he made a total of seven saves.
Felix Petermann, Jr., GK, San Jose State - allowed a goal in each match as the Spartans went 1-0-1 over the weekend. He made a total of 10 saves, including eight versus Air Force.
Shane Haworth, Jr., GK, Seattle U - posted a 3-0 shutout against Grand Canyon on Sunday afternoon, making six saves in the match.
Collin Partee, Fr., GK, Utah Valley - allowed just one goal in two matches over the weekend. He posted a 1-0 shutout over Grand Canyon on Friday and then allowed a penalty kick goal in a 1-0 loss against UNLV. He made a total of eight saves in the two matches.
WAC DIGITAL NETWORK TO PREVIEW THREE MATCHES
The Western Athletic Conference is offering a preview of the upcoming WAC Digital Network this weekend with three men’s soccer matches. The matches can be viewed by going to wacsports.com and are available on computers, tablets and smartphones from anywhere for free. The broadcasts also feature adaptive streaming and will detect the user’s bandwidth and adjust the quality of the video accordingly. More features including on-demand viewing, original content and features, games of the week and WAC Championships will be unveiled at the official launch later this month.
FIVE TEAMS IN REGIONAL RANKINGS
The WAC has five teams in the top eight of the NSCAA West Regional Rankings including the number spot held by UNLV. Seattle U is second, Air Force third, Bakersfield fith and Utah Valley eighth.
WAC’S NON-CONFERENCE RECORD MUCH IMPROVED
The WAC is 33-36-9 (.481) versus non-conference opponents this year. A year ago, the WAC finished the 2013 season with a non-conference mark of 14-46-8 (.265).
WAC STAT LEADERS
As a team, Bakersfield leads the WAC in shots (198), points (82), goals (30) and assists (22). Air Force leads the WAC in saves (64) while Utah Valley leads in goals against average (0.77). UNLV has posted the most shutouts with seven.
Individually, Utah Valley’s Matt Gay leads the WAC in shots (40). Bakersfield’s Julian Zamora leads the WAC with 17 points and eight goals. UNLV’s Julian Portugal and San Jose State’s Johnathan Colunga are tied for the WAC lead in assists with six each. Air Force’s Jake Schenk leads the WAC in goals against average (0.56), save percentage (.903) and saves (56). Houston Baptist’s Kevin Suarez leads the WAC in saves per game (6.33). UNLV’s Ryan Harding has posted the most shutouts with 6.1.
UTAH VALLEY IN TOP 15 OF ATTENDANCE
In its inaugural year, the Utah Valley men’s soccer team is averaging 2,080 fans per match, the 13th best in the nation. The Wolverines had a high of 3,209 against Gonzaga on Sept. 12.
WAC MEN’S SOCCER EXPANDS TO 10 TEAMS
For the first time since 1999, the WAC sponsored men’s soccer during the 2013 season. Seattle U won the 2013 regular season title with an undefeated mark of 7-0-3 and earned the WAC tournament title to advance to the NCAA tournament where it won its first round game. For 2014, the WAC has added two more teams to expand to 10 this season. The league is made up of both full time members of the WAC and affiliates: Air Force (affiliate), Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, Houston Baptist (affiliate), Incarnate Word (affiliate), Missouri-Kansas City, San Jose State (affiliate), Seattle U and Utah Valley. New this season are Incarnate Word and Utah Valley. UIW comes to the WAC after starting its transition from Division II to Division I last season in which it played as an independent. Utah Valley begins its first season of sponsoring men’s soccer.
REGULAR SEASON FORMAT
Regular-season play consists of a single round-robin format between all 10 teams and an additional match against each team’s travel party for a total of 10 matches. The points system will be used to determine conference standings. 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 Seattle U, November 13-14 and 16. The top six eligible teams will participate (Grand Canyon and Incarnate Word are ineligible due to their transition from Division II to Division I).
FUTURE MEMBER
The WAC will expand its men’s soccer league next year with the addition of Texas-Pan American in 2015. The Broncs have hired Paul Leese as their head coach. Leese spent the previous five seasons as the head coach at Coker College.