WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE WACWith two weekends left in the regular season, teams have either three or four matches remaining on their schedules. UNLV leads the WAC with a 6-1 mark and hosts Bakersfield and San Jose State this weekend. Incarnate Word has one loss as well and plays at Utah Valley and Seattle U. Utah Valley, Air Force, Bakersfield and Houston Baptist are in a battle for the final two spots in next month’s WAC Tournament.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE – Missouri-Kansas City’s Wes White, a freshman forward from Oak Grove, Mo. (William Chrisman HS), scored a goal and had two game-winning assists in helping the ‘Roos to a 2-0 mark over the weekend. On Friday, with UMKC trailing Seattle U 2-0, White scored on a header in the 76th minute and then assisted on the game-winner in the 86th minute to give the ‘Roos a 3-2 victory. On Sunday afternoon, he then assisted on the only goal in the 88th minute of a 1-0 win over Utah Valley. For the week, he scored four points, made three shots (two on goal) and played 145 minutes.
DEFENSIVE – San Jose State’s Felix Petermann, a junior goalkeeper from Berlin, Germany (Towson University), made four saves in recording his second shutout of the season during a 2-0 victory against Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon. The win moved the Spartans into a tie for third place in the WAC standings with two weekends to go before the WAC Tournament.
Others nominated on offense:
Alberto Sanchez Garcia, Jr., F, Grand Canyon - scored a goal in each match last week as the ‘Lopes went 1-1.
Patrick Toh, Sr., F, Houston Baptist - scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season in the match against UNLV on Sunday.
Alex de la Garza, Sr., MF, Incarnate Word - had two assists in a 3-2 loss against UNLV and then scored the game-winner on a penalty kick in the game against Grand Canyon.
Salvador Bernal, Sr., F, UNLV - scored UNLV’s first goal on a penalty kick and assisted on the game-winner in a 3-2 victory at Houston Baptist on Sunday.
Greg Harte, Fr., F, San Jose State - scored both goals on three shots in a 2-0 victory over Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon.
Hamza Haddadi, Jr., F, Seattle U - scored a goal in each match last week including the game-winner in a 1-0 victory at Air Force on Sunday.
Karson Payton, Fr., F, Utah Valley - scored the game-winning goal ina 2-1 victory at Air Force on Friday night.
Also nominated on defense:
Luca Licciardi, Jr., GK, Grand Canyon - earned his first win for Grand Canyon on Friday when he allowed just one goal in a 2-1 victory at Houston Baptist. He then seat a season-best with eight saves in the match at Incarnate Word.
Kevin Suarez, Sr., GK, Houston Baptist - made seven saves and faced 24 shots in the match against UNLV on Sunday.
William Redmann, Fr., D, Incarnate Word - played all 180 minutes last week and picked up his first career assist in the match against Grand Canyon.
Guerrero Pino, Jr., D, Missouri-Kansas City - played on the back line that allowed the ‘Roos’ opponents to take just 17 shots in two matches. Pino helped UMKC post a shutout against Utah Valley and scored the game-winner in that match. He also had an assist in the win over Seattle U.
Shane Haworth, Jr., GK, Seattle U - recorded his seventh shutout of the season with six saves in a 1-0 victory at Air Force.
Skyler Milne, So., MF, Utah Valley
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: Oct. 31-Incarnate Word at Utah Valley; Nov. 1-Houston Baptist at Utah Valley; Nov. 1-Bakersfield at Grand Canyon. 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 10 of the NSCAA West Regional Rankings including the number spot held by UNLV. Seattle U is second, Utah Valley seventh, Air Force eigth and Bakersfield 10th.
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 (239) while UNLV leads in points (101), goals (37) and assists (27). Air Force leads the WAC in saves (84) while Utah Valley leads in goals against average (0.81). UNLV has posted the most shutouts with eight.
Individually, Utah Valley’s Matt Gay and Grand Canyon’s Alberto Sanchez Garcia are tied for the WAC lead in shots with 52. UNLV’s Salvador Bernal leads the WAC with 19 points and is tied for the WAC lead with San Jose State’s Rory Knibbs and Bakersfield’s Julian Zamora in goals with eight. San Jose State’s Johnathan Colunga leads the WAC in assists with eight. Air Force’s Jake Schenk leads the WAC in goals against average (0.74), save percentage (.871) and saves (74). Houston Baptist’s Kevin Suarez leads the WAC in saves per game (6.50). UNLV’s Ryan Harding has posted the most shutouts with 7.1.
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 12th 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 added two more teams to expand to 10. 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 is in 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.