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UMKC'S McWOODS, SU'S ADACHI NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Kansas City's Eric McWoods and Seattle U's Josh Adachi have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 25 - Oct. 1.
McWoods, a senior forward from St. Louis (Kirkwood HS/Xavier), put together the Roos' first hat trick since 2010, scoring all three goals in a 3-2 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Friday night. He followed that up with the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over UIW on Sunday afternoon to lead Kansas City to a 2-0 start in conference play. His 16 points and seven goals this season lead the WAC.
Adachi, a redshirt junior from Pearl City, Hawai'i (Iolani' HS/Pacific), tallied two shutouts as Seattle U opened up the WAC season with a pair of wins at home. On Friday night against CSU Bakersfield, he didn't have to make a save as the Redhawk defense allowed just one shot in a 4-0 win. He had to do a little bit more work on Sunday, making three saves as the Redhawks held on for a 1-0 win over visiting San José State. His six shutouts lead the WAC and his 0.70 goals against average is second in the WAC this season.
Other offensive nominees: Air Force's Tucker Bone scored the game-winning goal in Sunday's 1-0 win over visiting UT Rio Grande Valley … Grand Canyon's Musa Morris Demos scored a pair of goals and assisted on another in the Lopes' high-scoring win over Houston Baptist, 5-2 … Seattle U's Sergio Rivas recorded two goals in the Redhawks' 4-0 win over CSU Bakersfield on Friday night … UT Rio Grande Valley's Juanito Ramirez scored his first career goal and notched his first assist of the season on Friday night in a 3-2 loss at Kansas City.
Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Oscar Chacon led the Falcon defense to a pair of wins at home over UIW and UT Rio Grande Valley … Grand Canyon's Aidan McGlothan helped led the Lopes defense to a 5-2 win over Houston Baptist on Sunday night … UIW's Brendan Brown stopped a career-high nine shots in Friday night's 2-1 overtime loss at Air Force … Kansas City's Filippo Errico made six saves as the Roos opened up WAC play with a pair of wins at home.
UP NEXT
The second of six weeks of conference play continues this week as Houston Baptist makes its home debut on Thursday night against Kansas City. The Huskies will then travel to 13th-ranked Air Force on Sunday. No. 23 Seattle U and Utah Valley will do the Texas two-step, visiting UIW and UT Rio Grande Valley while UNLV and Grand Canyon head west to take on CSU Bakersfield and San José State in California.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
One week into conference play, Seattle U leads the league in shots (200) and goals (18) and is tied with Grand Canyon for the lead in points (51). GCU is also tied with UNLV for the league lead is assists with 17 each. Air Force is the WAC leader in least goals allowed (4), goals against average (0.39) and shutouts (7). Kansas City holds the lead in saves with 47.
Individually, SU's Alex Roldan leads the WAC in shots (46) while UMKC's Eric McWoods has the league lead in points (16) and goals (7). UTRGV's Jaako Hietikko, UNLV duo Marco Gonzalez and Oscar Velazquez and Air Force's Austin Dewing are tied for the lead in assist with four each. SU's Cody Gibson is the league-leader in game-winning goals with three. Air Force keeper John Wendt is tops in goals against average (0.55) and is tied with UMKC's Filippo Errico for the lead in save percentage (.800). Errico is also the league leader in saves with 44. SU's Josh Adachi is the WAC's shutout leader with six.
ON THE MAP
Air Force continues to fly high in the national polls, entering the weekend ranked 13th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, 14th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25, 21st in the College Soccer News Top 30 and 23rd in the Soccer America Top 25. Seattle U is also a nationally-ranked team this week as the Redhawks are ranked 18th in the CSN Top 30 and 23rd in the USC Top 25.
REPPING THE RPI
The NCAA released the first official RPI rankings of the season and Air Force is near the top, ranking 13th. Seattle U is 31st while Grand Canyon just slipped in the top 100 at 96.
BEST IN THE WEST
The WAC continues to hold the top two spots in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll. Air Force is ranked number one while Seattle U is number two. Kansas City is the third WAC school ranked as the Roos return to the regional rankings at eight.
HEADED HOME
Nearly six full weeks into the season, Houston Baptist is finally opening its home schedule this week when the Huskies host Kansas City on Thursday night. UCF is the only other NCAA Division I men's soccer team that hasn't played at home yet as the Knights had home matches against Charlotte and Florida International cancelled because of Hurricane Irma. UCF is scheduled to open its home schedule on Wednesday against Stetson.
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.
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 five goals back of Musovski with 33 goals in his Lopes career, which puts him in third place all-time. Musovski is also third on the career assists list with 20 while Johnson's 195 shots rank him behind former teammate Alberto Sanchez-Garcia (2013-15), who finished his career with 210.
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.