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HBU'S JOHNSON, UVU'S JENSEN NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Houston Baptist's Darrell Johnson and Utah Valley's Mitch Jensen have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 10 - 16.
Johnson, a sophomore midfielder from San José, Costa Rica (Alpha Omega Academy (Iowa)), was involved in each of the Huskies' goals over the weekend. He scored HBU's lone goal from 21 yards out in a 2-1 loss on Friday afternoon at San José State. He remained determined to get the Huskies back on track on Sunday, assisting on all three goals in a 3-1 win over UT Rio Grande Valley.
Jensen, a junior goalkeeper from Kaysville, Utah (Davis HS/Western Wyoming CC), earns his second straight player of the week award after posting two more shutouts, this time on the road. On Friday night, he made a pair of saves in a 2-0 win against an Air Force team that came into the match ranked second nationally in goals per game. He followed that up with four saves on Sunday night at UMKC, earning his fourth-straight shutout in his fourth career start at UVU.
Other offensive nominees: Air Force's John Sims scored twice on Sunday afternoon to lead the Falcons to a 3-0 win over CSU Bakersfield … Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson scored two goals in less than a minute to help the Lopes earn a point in a 2-2 draw at UNLV … UIW's Wouter Peters scored twice in Sunday's win at San José State … Seattle U's Sergio Rivas scored the Redhawks' lone goal in a 1-1 tie at UMKC and assisted on Sunday's first goal in a 2-1 win over Grand Canyon … UT Rio Grande Valley's Isidro Martinez scored his first goal of the season in a 3-1 loss to Houston Baptist on Sunday … Utah Valley's Paul Hoffmeister recorded his third brace of the season in Friday's 2-0 win at Air Force.
Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Cameron Duley helped lead the Falcons to their fourth shutout of the season on Sunday afternoon against CSU Bakersfield … Grand Canyon's Khadim Seye played all 180 minutes for the Lopes in a draw at UNLV and a close loss at Seattle U … UIW's Jorge Guzman allowed just two goals on the road and made six total saves as the Cardinals split a California road trip … Seattle U's Kyle Bjornethun played all 200 minutes for the Redhawks as SU played to a 1-1 tie at UMKC and earned a 2-1 win at home against Grand Canyon.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
League-leader Seattle U leads the WAC in shots (213) while second-place Air Force leads the conference in points (93), goals (32) and assists (29). Utah Valley, also in second place, is tops in goals allowed (10), goals against average (0.71) and shutouts (9). San José State has the most saves (89).
Individually, Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson is the leader in shots (53), points (23) and goals (11). HBU's Marc Anthone, UVU's Karson Payton, AF's Austin Dewing and UVU's Aaron Meyer are all tied for the lead in assists with five each. UVU's Mitch Jensen has yet to allow a goal in six matches played and leads the WAC with a 0.00 goals against average and 1.000 save percentage. SJSU's Nedin Tucakovic has a WAC-high 85 saves.
In WAC-only play, Seattle U leads in shots (96), points (41), goals (14) and assists (13). Utah Valley is tops in goals allowed (2), goals against average (0.40) and shutouts (4). San José State has a WAC-high 39 saves in conference play.
Individually, GCU's Jackson leads in shots (29), points (10) and goals (5). UIW's Ben Conway, AF's Tucker Bone and HBU's Darrell Johnson are tied for the lead in WAC assists at three each. UVU's Jensen is tops in goals against average (0.00) and save percentage (1.000) while SJSU's Tucakovic tops the lists for saves (36).
WHOA, WE'RE HALF WAY THERE
The conference schedule has reached its halfway point with Air Force being the biggest surprise in 2016. Predicted by the coaches to finish eighth this season, the Falcons are tied for second in the standings and will look to keep their strong play going this week with a road match at UNLV on Friday and a home game on Sunday against UMKC. League-leader Seattle U travels to San Antonio to take on UIW on Friday before returning to Seattle on Sunday to host UT Rio Grande Valley. Utah Valley will be home on Friday against Houston Baptist before heading to the Bay Area on Sunday for a match against San José State.
NATIONALLY RANKED
Utah Valley moved back into the NSCAA Coaches' Top 25 this week, holding down the 21st spot. The Wolverines are also ranked 16th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 20th in the College Soccer News Top 30. Air Force and Seattle U are among those receiving votes in the CSN Top 30.
REPPING IN THE RPI
Utah Valley remains among the nations' best in the latest RPI rankings, sitting at 21. Seattle U moved up to 42nd while Air Force dropped to 52 following a loss to UVU on Friday.
BEST IN THE WEST
The NSCAA West Region Rankings stayed nearly identical this week as Utah Valley remains third, Seattle U is fourth and Air Force remains fifth. Denver is the top ranked team in the region, followed by Loyola-Chicago.
FOR THE AGES
CSU Bakersfield goalie Nicolas Clever is now the WAC's all-time saves leader over the weekend as the senior has 206 stops in his career. He is also second in WAC saves with 104. UIW's Ben Conway became the WAC's all time leader in shots during conference play with 90 while UNLV's Danny Musovski moved up with third all-time in points with 68. San José State's Rory Knibbs is just three points back of the all-time mark for points in WAC matches, set by Tulsa's Donivan Bradshaw from 1996 to 1999. SJSU's Jonathan Colunga is one assist back of SMU's Daniel Hernandez (1996-97) on the WAC assist list while
SHUT IT
Utah Valley has already recorded nine shutouts this season, including four straight in WAC play, and the Wolverines are in reach of setting new WAC records for clean sheets. Former WAC member SMU holds the current record for shutouts in a season (11) in 1999 and shutouts in WAC play (5) in 1996. Both of those Mustang teams were coached by current Grand Canyon manager Schellas Hyndman.
CONFERENCE CALL
As a conference, the WAC is second nationally in goals (198) and assists (175), trailing only the Atlantic Coast Conference. The WAC is also third in the nation in saves (591).
THANK YOU FANS
Grand Canyon is currently third nationally in attendance, having drawn an average of 3,206 fans in each of their six home matches. Utah Valley is 14th with an average of 2,038 fans in the Wolverines' first five home matches.
TIP OF THE HAT
Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson scored the WAC's first hat trick of the season on Sept. 15, scoring three goals in a 3-0 win over IUPUI. He followed that up with another hat trick on Oct. 6 at Houston Baptist.
RAINED OUT
After playing 45 minutes, the season opener between Central Arkansas and UMKC was officially cancelled with UCA leading 1-0 after a storm went through Kansas City, causing flash floods throughout the city.
BJORNETHUN, OLSEN HIGHLIGHT PRESEASON ALL-WAC SQUAD
Seattle U defender Kyle Bjornethun and forward David Olsen were selected as WAC Preseason Defensive and Offensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 11 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players. Redhawks midfielder Sergio Rivas joining his teammates on team. Utah Valley had three players as Skyler Milne, Paul Hoffmeister and Alex Neff all picked up preseason honors. UNLV and San José State each had two players with the Rebels represented by Danny Musovski and Richard Garness and the Spartans represented by Rory Knibbs and Jonathan Colunga. Grand Canyon's Amer Sasivarevic represented the Lopes to round out the 11-player squad.
THREE NAMED TO MAC HERMANN WATCH LIST
Seattle U's Kyle Bjornethun and David Olsen and UNLV's Danny Musovski are among those on the watch list for the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club's (MAC) Hermann Trophy. Olsen was a semiThrough 10/17ist for the 2015 WAC Hermann Trophy, Bjornthun was the 2015 WAC Defensive Player of the Year and Musovski earned 2015 WAC Offensive Player of the Year honors. All three were also named NSCAA All-Americans last season with Olsen earning First Team honors and Bjornethun and Musovski each picking up Second Team honors.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
After helping the Redhawks bust onto the national scene last season, Seattle U forward David Olsen and defender Kyle Bjornethun were named First Team Preseason All-Americans by CollegeSoccerNews.com. UNLV forward Danny Musovski was also recognized, earning second team honors.
Bjornethun also earned First Team honors from Top Drawer Soccer. Olsen was a Second Team selection in the TDS Preseason Best XI while Musovski and Utah Valley's Alex Neff earned third team honors. Grand Canyon defender Hector Montalvo rounded out the WAC players honored, being named to the Freshman First Team.
PLAYING THE BEST
The WAC has eight non-conference games against participants from the 2015 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. Seattle U is playing two postseason participants, traveling to both Akron and Dartmouth. San José State is also taking on two postseason schools on the road, traveling to defending champion Stanford and Santa Clara. UIW will tak on SMU, Air Force meets Cal Poly, UT Rio Grande Valley plays Cal State Fullerton and UMKC heads to Creighton.
COMING TO YOU LIVE
The WAC Digital Network will broadcast 28 regular season games and all five games of the 2016 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament in Orem, Utah.