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 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 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).
NCAA OPPONENTS
WAC teams will play in 15 matches against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year (up from eight the previous season). Six of the matches will be played at WAC home sites with both UNLV and Seattle U hosting two each. Both of those schools also play a third match against a 2013 NCAA Tournament participant as Seattle U travels cross town to Washington and UNLV plays at Bradley. Bakersfield, San Jose State and UNLV each play two matches against non-conference opponents that competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2013 while Air Force, Grand Canyon and Missouri-Kansas City each play one.
2014 NCAA COLLEGE CUP
The 56th Annual Men’s College Cup will be held Dec. 12 and 14, 2014, in Cary, N.C. at the WakeMed Soccer Park. UMKC and the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation will host the 2015 College Cup at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 11 and 13. Last season, Seattle U competed in the NCAA Tournament. The Redhawks won at Creighton, 2-1, in the first round before falling in the second round at Washington, 4-2. The following is a list of sites and dates for the 2014 NCAA Tournament:
TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Air Force Falcons
Air Force enters its second year in the WAC in men’s soccer since rejoining the conference prior to the 2013 season ... Air Force tied for the Mountain Division title last season with a 3-2-5 league record after a winless non-conference slate ... Air Force plays service-academy rivals Army and Navy in the same season for the first time since 2008 ... eight starters return for the 2014 season led by Ryan Ward with four goals, Zachary Modly with three goals and two assists and Blake Elder with two goals and four assists last season for the Falcons.
Bakersfield Roadrunners
Two-time Conference USA Coach of the Year Richie Grant was named the new head coach of Bakersfield men’s soccer program on Jan. 14, 2014 ... Grant became the fourth head coach of Bakersfield men’s soccer and just the second since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks ... redshirt senior Joe Masumiya was chosen second team All-Conference in 2013 ... Masumiya started every match last season and led Bakersfield in points (14) and assists (4) ... he tied with David Velasquez for second on the team in goals (5) ... Masumiya has started 33 consecutive matches.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Alberto Sanchez Garcia was GCU’s first-ever men’s soccer player to be named to the postseason All-WAC team, garnering first team honors after starting 18 games and collecting five goals and two assists ... GCU returns 11 letterwinners from last year’s squad, including five starters ... Sanchez Garcia was the second leading scorer for the Lopes with five goals last season, while returners Yared Solscheid, Ante Spajic, and Amer Sasivarevic combined to make 50 starts ... GK Felipe Reyes started each of GCU’s final three games last season, collecting 15 saves during that time.
Houston Baptist Huskies
HBU returns leading scorer, Tobenna Uzo, who was second in the conference with 22 points and 1.22 points per game, but the Huskies lose Kristopher Tyrpak to graduation ... Tyrpak finished his career with the Huskies ranked seventh in career points (56) and third in career assists (20) ... HBU will also look to replace three defenders due to graduation, including Walter Kromholz, who is the program leader with 5,872 career minutes played ... two of sophomore Stefan Lamanna’s three goals last season were game winners ... the Huskies return their goalkeeper, senior Kevin Suarez.
Incarnate Word Cardinals
This is the first season for the Cardinals as a member of an NCAA Division I conference ... last year, the team competed as an independent going 6-8-1 while playing all but two games away from home ... head coach Vince Martinez is 35-15-1 in his three seasons with UIW ... he led the team to a pair of DII playoff appearances, including an Elite 8 finish in 2012, in his first two years ... the Cardinals return three of their top four goal scorers from a year ago ... Victor Pinal and Alex de la Garza tied for the team lead with five goals while Ben Conway tallied three goals as a true freshman.
Kansas City Kangaroos
UMKC returns 78 percent of its scoring from 2013, led by seniors Jordan Rideout and Tato Chiaparro ... the ‘Roos returned nine starters, but added 11 newcomers (7 transfers) to bolster the lineup in every position ... Jordan Rideout enters the season ranked No. 2 all-time at UMKC in goals, needing eight this year to match Bryan Perez’s mark of 29 ... was granted a waiver from the NCAA this summer that gave team MVP Guerrero Pino two additional years of eligibility, making him a junior this season ... he will have to sit out the first 10 games of this season though.
UNLV Rebels
The Rebels return nine starters from a year ago and only lose a total of four players off last year’s squad. UNLV ranks fifth in the nation in career starts by active players with 345 ... for the first time since the 1991 season, the Rebels have four returning all-conference players (forward Salvador Bernal, midfielder Rodrigo Fuentes, defender Kyle Mellies, goalkeeper Ryan Harding) ... Bernal highlights the returnees as he has a chance to become the first four-time first-team all-conference player in UNLV history if he makes the team again as a senior.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State returns 89 percent of its goal scoring output from 2013 ... head coach Simon Tobin, in his first season guiding the Spartans, is just the third head coach the program has had in the last 60 years ... of its 19 opponents on the 2014 schedule, the Spartans have a winning record against 10, tied versus one, a losing record against three and have are facing five for the first time ... sophomore Rory Knibbs, an All-WAC selection in 2013, returns as the team’s leading goal scorer and third most prolific at finding the back of the net the conference.
Seattle U Redhawks
The Redhawks won both the WAC regular season and tournament titles, going undefeated, in 2013 ... coach Pete Fewing was named WAC Coach of the Year while Miguel Gonzalez was named Offensive Player of the Year and Kyle Bjornethun was named Freshman of the Year ... SU defeated Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013, becoming the first Seattle U men’s team to win an NCAA DI tournament game since men’s basketball defeated Utah State on Mar. 14, 1964 ... in the final postseason version of the men’s DI Top Drawer Soccer Top 25, the Redhawks earned a spot at No. 25.
Utah Valley Wolverines
The 2014 season marks the first year of competition for the men’s soccer program at Utah Valley University ... the Wolverines represent the one and only NCAA Division I men’s soccer program in the state of Utah ... Utah Valley’s initial roster features 32 student-athletes hailing from nine states and four countries ... the roster also includes only three upperclassmen: juniors Aaron Stoddard and Tyler Brown, as well as lone senior Cameron Kidwell ... UVU will make its NCAA men’s soccer debut in a home match against Massachusetts on August 30 .