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UNLV WINS 2016 WAC MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT
Danny Musovski scored twice as he led the UNLV Rebels to their second WAC tournament title in three seasons, knocking off the Air Force Falcons, 2-1, on a sunny afternoon at Clyde Field in Orem, Utah.
UNLV's Musovski opened the scoring in the 13th minute on a one-touch into the left corner following the pass from Marquis Pitt. After the match stayed 1-0 for the next hour of game time, Air Force evened it up int he 78th minute as John Sims volleyed in a corner kick by Ryan Ward for the Falcons lone goal of the game. The tie didn't last long as Musovski broke away from the Air Force defense and put the ball in from the middle of the box for the game winner.
MUSOVSKI HIGHLIGHTS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Danny Musovski earned tournament MVP honors for the second time in three seasons to highlight the 2016 WAC Men's Soccer All-Tournament team. The junior forward was joined by teammates Oscar Velazquez, Timo Mehlich and Enrique Adame. Air Force was represented by Trey Pujats, Cameron Duley and John Sims. Utah Valley and Seattle U each had two players with Paul Hoffmeister and Aaron Meyer representing the Wolverines and Alex Roldan and Jeff Rose representing the Redhawks
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Seattle U finished the regular season leading the WAC in shots (277) and corners (100). Air Force leads the league in points (115), goals (40) and assists (35) while regular season champion Utah Valley led the conference in least goals allowed (15), goals against average (0.78) and shutouts (10). San José State had the most saves, leading the WAC with 93.
Individually, Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson led the WAC in shots (71), points (34) and goals (16). Utah Valley's Aaron Meyer was the WAC leader in assists (9) while Seattle U's Alex Roldan led the league in game-winning goals with six. Utah Valley's Mitch Jensen had the top goals against average (0.42) while Seattle U's Jordan Hadden had the highest save percentage (.857). SJSU's Nedin Tucakovic had a conference-best 89 saves this season.
In conference-only play, UIW led the WAC with 161 shots while Seattle U was the leader in points (66), goals (22), assists (22), least goals allowed (6) and goals against average (0.57). Houston Baptist had the most saves with 59 while both Air Force and Utah Valley tied the WAC record for saves in conference play with five each.
Individually, UIW's Ben Conway led the WAC with 50 shots. GCU's Jackson led the conference in points (19) and goals (9). Seattle U's Jeff Rose, Houston Baptist's Darrell Johnson, UVU's Meyer and Air Force's Tucker Bone all had five assists in WAC play. SU's Roldan led the conference with four game-winning goals. UVU's Jensen led the WAC with a 0.47 goal against average while SU's Hadden posted a .857 save percentage in WAC play. HBU's Chance Pope led all keepers with 56 saves in conference play.
REBELS RUN
UNLV became the lowest seed in WAC history to win the WAC men's soccer tournament as the fourth-seeded Rebels earned wins over UT Rio Grande Valley, Utah Valley and Air Force to collect their second tournament title in three seasons. As a reward, they earned an automatic selection the NCAA Tournament and will travel to San Diego State on Thursday night to open tournament play. With a win, the Rebels would head to Colorado to take on sixth-seed Denver on Sunday.
BEST IN THE WEST
Utah Valley remains third, Seattle U remains fourth and Air Force remains sixth in the latest NSCAA West Region Rankings. Denver is the top ranked team in the region, followed by Loyola-Chicago.
TOP OF THE CLASS
Utah Valley University senior Alex Neff is among twenty NCAA men's and women's soccer student-athletes selected as finalists for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate soccer. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Neff is a two-time, first-team All-WAC selection and was named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America team in 2015. Also among several other career honors, he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 team last week. Neff is one of ten finalists from NCAA Division I men's programs.
Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through November 21. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup championships in December.
SOCCER SMARTS
Six men's soccer players from the Western Athletic Conference have been recognized for success in the classroom, being honored as Academic All-District selections by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Utah Valley led the way with four players selected. Junior defender Chandler Baddley, senior defender Alex Neff, junior midfielder Paul Hoffmeister and junior midfielder Karson Payton represented the Wolverines. Hoffmeister was also honored as an All-District selection last fall.
Houston Baptist defender Bryan Brody was also recognized for a second-straight season while Seattle U's Sam Langston represented the Redhawks.
BROTHERS IN SCORING
Seattle U's Alex Roldan scored the game-winning goal on Sundy to clinch the Redhawks' playoff berth with a 3-0 win over UTRGV. The goal came just about two hours after his brother Cristian, a midfielder for the Seattle Sounders of the MLS, scored the game-winning goal against Real Salt Lake to clinch a playoff berth for the Sounders.
SHUT IT
Utah Valley has already recorded 10 shutouts this season, including five 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 (282) and assists (265), trailing only the Atlantic Coast Conference. The WAC is also second in the nation in saves (844) behind the Atlantic 10.
THANK YOU FANS
Grand Canyon is currently eighth nationally in attendance, drawing an average of 2,508 fans in each of their home matches this season. Utah Valley is 15th with an average of 1,796 fans in the Wolverines' nine 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 11/13ist 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.