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UNLV'S MUSOVSKI, CSUB'S CHARRON NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
UNLV's Danny Musovski and CSU Bakersfield's Jeremie Charron have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 2 - 8.
Musovski, a senior forward from Henderson, Nev. (Liberty HS), tied the WAC record for points in a conference match when he scored a hat trick and assisted on another goal in a 5-2 win at San José State on Friday afternoon. He opened up the scoring on a penalty kick in the fifth minute and then added goals in the 10th and 17th minutes to collect his second hat trick of the season. He added an assist in the 57th minute for his seventh point of the match, tying Air Force's Ryan Schaeffer (10/17/1997 vs. Tulsa) and San José State's Isaias Bardales (10/15/1999 vs. Drury) for the record.
Charron, a sophomore defender from Geneva, Switzerland (College Du Leman), anchored the CSUB back line to a pair of conference wins at home. On Friday night, he scored the team's first goal and then helped keep the ‘Runners in the game with Grand Canyon as CSU Bakersfield would earn the 3-2 overtime win. He followed that up with a strong performance against UNLV, clearing numerous crosses out of the box as the ‘Runners earned a 1-0 win over the Rebels.
Other offensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Sebastian Mentel scored the game-winning game in overtime against Grand Canyon and added an assist against both the Lopes and in the following game against UNLV … Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson scored a goal in each of the Lopes' matches on the weekend, including the double-overtime game-winner at San José State … Houston Baptist's Dequan Thomas scored the Huskies' first goal against UMKC and assisted on the next two as HBU earned a 3-1 win on Thursday … UIW's Darius Feldman scored the game-winning goal with just seven seconds left to give the Cardinals a 2-1 win over Utah Valley … Seattle U's Medo Youssef scored both goals in the Redhawks' 2-2 draw at UT Rio Grande Valley on Friday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Arthur Rogers scored the first goal in UTRGV's 2-2 draw with Seattle U and then added assists on the first two goals in a 3-0 win over Utah Valley.
Other defensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Amer Sasivarevic helped lead the Lopes defense to their third shutout victory of the season in a 1-0 win at San José State, tying GCU's Division I record for shutouts in a season … UT Rio Grande Valley's Michael Faber anchored a defense that prevented Utah Valley from attempting a shot on goal in a 3-0 win on Sunday.
UP NEXT
First place in the WAC and a significant advantage heading into the final half of conference play will be on the line when 12th-ranked Air Force visits Seattle U on Thursday afternoon. The Falcons will also travel to 2016 regular season champion Utah Valley while Seattle U will host regionally-ranked Kansas City on Saturday. Houston Baptist is home for a pair against CSU Bakersfield and San José State and UNLV is home against UT Rio Grande Valley and UIW. Grand Canyon will open the week at home against UIW on Friday before traveling to play UT Rio Grande Valley on Sunday.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Seattle U leads the league in shots (234), goals (22) and corners (80) and is tied with Grand Canyon for the lead in points (61). GCU is also tied with UNLV for the lead in assists (21) while Air Force is the top defensive team, leading the WAC in least goals allowed (4). goals against average (0.36) and shutouts (8). CSU Bakersfield has the most saves (59).
Individually, SU's Alex Roldan is the WAC leader in shots (53). UNLV's Danny Musovski leads the league in points (22) and goals (9). UTRGV's Jaako Hietikko, Air Force's Austin Dewing and UNLV's Marco Gonzalez are all tied for the lead in assists with five each. AF's John Wendt holds the top goals against average (0.49) while Houston Baptist's Harrison Veith has the best save percentage (.833). CSUB's Detre Bell has a WAC-high 56 saves. SU's Josh Adachi leads the league in shutouts with seven.
In WAC only play, Seattle U leads the league in shots (70), goals (9), and shutouts (3). UNLV has the lead in points (25) while UTRGV is tops in assists (10). Air Force leads in least goals allowed (1) and goals against average (0.33) while CSU Bakersfield is tops in saves (28).
Individually, UMKC's Eric McWoods has a league-high 16 shots and shares the lead in goals at four each with UNLV's Musovski, who also leads the league in points (10). AF's Dewing has a WAC-high three assists in league play. In net, AF's Andrea Seazzu has a 0.00 goals-against average in his only league appearance, also posting a perfect 1.000 save percentage. CSUB's Bell has 27 saves in WAC play to lead the league.
ON THE MAP
Air Force continues to fly high in the national polls, heading into the third week of WAC play ranked 12th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, 14th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25, 16th in the College Soccer News Top 30 and 19th in the Soccer America Top 25. Seattle U is also mentioned in a couple national polls as the Redhawks are ranked 18th in the CSN Top 30 and are the first team listed among those receiving votes in the USC Top 25.
REPPING THE RPI
Air Force climbed to 11th in the latest RPI rankings released by the NCAA. Seattle U is next on the list at 45 while Houston Baptist made the biggest climb in the WAC, up 33 spots to 96.
BEST IN THE WEST
Air Force remains the top team in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Ranking. Seattle U traded spots with Missouri State and fell to third while Kansas City dropped one spot to ninth.
HEADED HOME
Nearly six full weeks into the season, Houston Baptist is finally opened its home schedule on Oct. 5 when the Huskies earned a 3-1 win over visiting Kansas City. HBU had the latest home opener of any DI men's soccer program in the country.
MUSOVSKI HITS THE JACKPOT
UNLV senior forward Danny Musovski had a match to remember on Sept. 24 against Oral Roberts, scoring four goals and assisting on another to tie the WAC record for goals in a game and set a new conference mark for points in the match with nine. He followed that perfomance up with a hat trick and an assist on Oct. 6 at San José State to tie the WAC record for points in a conference match.
STORM CHASERS
After seeing Hurricane Harvey force the cancellation of the season opening HBU Invitational, Houston Baptist again saw a major storm affect their game schedule. The Huskies were scheduled to play in a tournament in Savannah and Statesboro, Ga. but Hurricane Irma forced alternative plans. HBU still got a pair of games in, falling 1-0 at Georgia Southern before heading to North Carolina for a 3-1 win at Gardner-Webb.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Seattle U's saw a 21-game home win streak come to an end on Sept. 24 in a 2-0 loss to rival Washington.
GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY CAME TO SEE
The 4,351 fans that showed up at Clyde Field on opening night to watch Utah Valley defeat Akron, 1-0, is the 12th-largest crowd in NCAA Division I men's soccer this season as the Wolverines rank 10th nationally in attendance with an average of 2,335. Grand Canyon ranks 14th in average attendance at 1,925. UNLV also played in front of a large crowd on opening night as 4,385 fans game to Merlo Field to see the Rebels knock off host Portland, 3-2, in double overtime.
REWRITING HISTORY
UNLV senior forward Danny Musovski became the new career leader for the most points in WAC men's soccer history with a nine-point game on Sept. 24 against Oral Roberts. The big game also brought him into a tiee with Tulsa's Donivan Bradshaw (1996-99) for career goals with 37 and then he became the WAC's all-time scoring leader on Sept. 28 with a goal against Houston Baptist. Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson is six goals back of Musovski with 35 goals in his Lopes career, which puts him in third place all-time. Musovski is also tied for second on the career assists list with 21 and seven back of GCU's Alberto Sanchez-Garcia (2013-15) for the all-time lead in shots. He is also the WAC's all-time leader in goals (23) and points (54) in conference play.
UPSET CITY
The WAC opened up the 2017 season with five matches against teams ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 and picked up three wins while falling in double-overtime in a fourth. Utah Valley earned a 1-0 win over 16th-ranked Akron on Friday night. Air Force outlasted 23rd-ranked Florida Gulf Coast, 3-2, on Sunday while Seattle U extended its 18-match home winning streak with a 1-0 win over 20th-ranked New Mexico. Grand Canyon played 14th-ranked Creighton tough in Omaha before falling 1-0 in double-overtime.
UNLV PICKED TO WIN 2017 TITLE
UNLV is the preseason favorite to win the 2017 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title in a vote of the league's 11 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.
The Rebels collected five first place votes and 90 total points to take the top spot. Defending regular season champion Utah Valley earned three first place votes and was just a point back at 89 to earn the second spot while Seattle U earned the remaining three first place votes to total 87 points for third. 2016 tournament finalist Air Force was picked fourth with 72 points followed closely by Grand Canyon in fifth with 70 points. CSU Bakersfield was sixth with 54 points and San José State was selected seventh, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in eighth and UIW in ninth. Houston Baptist and Kansas City tied for 10th to round out the poll.
AUNE, MUSOVSKI HIGHLIGHT PRESEASON ALL-WAC SQUAD
UNLV forward Danny Musovski and Seattle U defender Nathan Aune were selected as WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 11 head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
Musovski is joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by midfielder teammate Timo Mehlich while Aune is joined by midfielder teammate Sergio Rivas. Air Force has three players as forward Austin Dewing, midfielder Tucker Bone and goalkeeper John Wendt were all honored. Utah Valley had a pair selected as forward Paul Hoffmeister joined defender Giovanny Vazquez on the squad. Grand Canyon forward Niki Jackson and CSU Bakersfield defender Jamie Carey-Morrell rounded out the 11-member team.
THREE NAMED TO MAC HERMANN WATCH LIST
Utah Valley's Paul Hoffmeister, Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson and UNLV's Danny Musovski are among those on the watch list for the 2017 Missouri Athletic Club's (MAC) Hermann Trophy. Hoffmeister was a third-team All-American as a junior, Jackson was the 2016 WAC Offensive Player of the Year and Musovski earned 2016 WAC Tournament MVP honors.
HOFFMEISTER, MUSOVSKI NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA
A pair of WAC men's soccer players will open the year as preseason All-Americans as Utah Valley's Paul Hoffmeister was named a first team selection and UNLV's Danny Musovski earned second team honors by College Soccer News. The duo was also named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XII Third Team.
READY TO ROLL
After playing through a four-year transition period to NCAA Division I, both Grand Canyon and UIW are eligible for the postseason this year. The Lopes are predicted to finish fifth in the regular season while the Cardinals are ninth in the preseason coaches poll.
LUCKY SEVEN
With all 11 men's soccer teams eligible for the postseason in 2017, the WAC tournament field has expanded from six teams to seven teams. The tournament also added an extra rest day between the first round and semifinal round. The regular season champion and top seed will receive the only bye in the tournament, with the other teams beginning play on Wednesday, Nov. 8 in Las Vegas. Semifinals will be played on Friday, Nov. 10 with the championship game set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12.
PLAYING THE BEST
The WAC has 23 non-conference games against participants from the 2016 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. UNLV, a 2016 postseason participant itself, is one of three schools to play four NCAA participants, making trips to Portland, New Mexico and UCLA and hosting Pacific. Utah Valley has four non-conference matches against postseason participants, hosting Akron and CSUN and traveling to San Diego State and Washington. Seattle U also has four with home games against New Mexico, Mercer and Washington and a road trip to Portland. San José State opens the season hosting defending national champion Stanford and will travel to both CSUN and Pacific. Grand Canyon will travel to Creighton and Pacific and host CSUN. UT Rio Grande Valley takes on Loyola Chicago on a neutral field at Northern Illinois before returning home to take on San Diego State later in the season. UIW will also face San Diego State in Edinburg. Air Force takes on Florida Gulf Coast at home while CSU Bakersfield travels to Pacific.
COMING SOON
California Baptist is scheduled to join the WAC for 2018-2019 competition. They will begin their four year transition process to Division 1. This will make them ineligible to compete in post season tournaments (WAC and NCAA) until 2022-2023 season. They will be coming from the Pacific West Conference where they won five championships (M&W Cross Country, W. Basketball, W. Golf, and Softball) during 2016-2017 season.
ON THE AIR
The WAC Digital Network will broadcast 88 regular season games and all six games of the expanded 2017 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament in Las Vegas.