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UVU'S HOFFMEISTER, SJSU'S RIOS NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Paul Hoffmeister and San José State's Andy Rios have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 9 - 15.
Hoffmeister, a senior midfielder from Hilden, Germany (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium), scored the game-winner in Thursday's 2-1 win over Kansas City and then scored the equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw with 12th-ranked Air Force on Saturday. Against Kansas City, he put in the volley off a save to give the Wolverines the advantage in the 86th minute. He followed that up with a goal on in the bottom left corner in the 43rd minute against Air Force as the Wolverines picked up four crucial points on the week.
Rios, a junior defender from Chowchilla, Calif. (Chowchilla HS/Fresno City College), anchored the SJSU back line as the Spartans came up with their first shutout in conference play this season with a 1-0 road win at Houston Baptist. He was a key figure in preventing the Huskies from earning a shot on goal as San José State picked up its first road win of the season.
Other offensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Charlie Keating scored a goal and assisted on another in the Lopes' 2-0 win over Incarnate Word on Friday … UNLV's Marco Gonzalez posted his second brace of the season with a pair of goals in Friday's 3-2 win over UT Rio Grande Valley … Seattle U's Sergio Rivas scored the Redhawks' first goal in a 2-1 win over Kansas City after assisting on the first goal in Thursday's 2-2 draw with 12th-ranked Air Force … UT Rio Grande Valley's Angel Lopez scored both of the goals in the Vaqueros' 2-0 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday.
Other defensive nominees: UIW's Brendan Brown made a total of 11 saves in losses on the road at Grand Canyon and UNLV … UNLV's Adam Musovski was the defensive leader for the Rebels as they allowed just one live ball goal in a pair of wins at home … UT Rio Grande Valley's Esa Aalto made four saves to earn his first shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over visiting Grand Canyon … Utah Valley's Giovanny Vazquez helped the Wolverines earn four points with a win over Kansas City and a draw with 12th-ranked Air Force.
UP NEXT
Three weeks remain in the regular season and the battle to earn one of seven spots in the WAC Tournament heats up this week with a number of important matches. UNLV and Grand Canyon hit the road, visiting 16th-ranked Air Force and Kansas City in important matches for all four teams. Houston Baptist travels to Utah Valley on Thursday and 25th-ranked Seattle U on Sunday. The final matchups have the Golden State traveling to the Lone Star State as CSU Bakersfield and San José State complete the Texas two-step with matches at UT Rio Grande Valley and UIW.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Heading into the final three weeks of the regular season, Seattle U leads the WAC in shots (279), points (75). goals (26) and corner kicks (106). UNLV is tops in assists (25) while Air Force has the least goals allowed (7), the low goals against average (0.51) and the most shutouts (8). CSU Bakersfield is the leader in saves (63).
Individually, SU's Alex Roldan is the leader in shots (62). UNLV's Danny Musovski has the lead in both points (25) and goals (10) while AF's Austin Dewing is the leader in assists (6). Musovski and SU's Cody Gibson are tied for the lead in game-winning goals (3). In goal, AF's John Wendt has the low goals against average (0.66) while HBU's Harrison Veith leads the WAC in save percentage (.824). CSUB's Detre Bell is the leader in saves (60) while SU's Josh Adachi has the most shutouts (7).
In WAC-only play, Seattle U leads the league in shots (115), points (38), goals (13), shutouts (3) and corner kicks (48). UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in assits (14) while Air Force has the least amount of goals allowed (4) and the low goals against average (0.73). Houston Baptist is the saves leader with 35.
Individually, SU's Roldan is the leader in shots (23) and UNLV's Musovski leads the league in points (13) and is tied with UMKC's Eric McWoods for the lead in goals with five each. AF's Dewing has four assists in league play to lead the WAC while McWoods, Musovski and Roldan are all tied for the lead in game-winning goals with two each. SJSU's David Heredia has the low goals against average (0.59) while HBU's Veith has the best save percentage (.808). CSUB's Bell has a league-high 31 saves and SU's Adachi has a WAC-best three shutouts in league play.
ON THE MAP
Air Force continues to fly high in the national polls, heading into the the week ranked 16th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 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 round out the USC Top 25 in the 25th spot.
REPPING THE RPI
Air Force sits at 15th in the latest RPI rankings released by the NCAA. Seattle U is next on the list at 40 while UNLV slid into the top 100 at 94.
BEST IN THE WEST
Air Force remains the top team in the United Soccer Coaches West Region Ranking. Seattle U is back in the second spot while UNLV enters the poll in seventh.
TOP OF THE CLASS
Grand Canyon senior forward Niki Jackson has been announced as one of 10 finalists for the 2017 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. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The finalists were chosen by a selection committee from the list of 30 men's candidates announced in September. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through Nov. 20. 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 2017 NCAA Men's College Cup® championship later this fall.
HEADED HOME
Nearly six full weeks into the season, Houston Baptist 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 13th-largest crowd in NCAA Division I men's soccer this season as the Wolverines rank 14th nationally in attendance with an average of 1,928. Grand Canyon ranks 17th in average attendance at 1,714. 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 36 goals in his Lopes career, which puts him in third place all-time. Musovski is also second on the career assists list with 22. Jackson is just one shot back of former teammate Alberto Sanchez-Garcia (2013-15) for the all-time lead in shots.
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.