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AF'S DEWING, CHACON NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Air Force's Austin Dewing and Oscar Chacon have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 23 - 29.
Dewing, a junior forward from Colorado Springs, Colo. (Air Academy HS), led the 15th-ranked Falcons to a pair of wins and the WAC regular season title with wins at San José State and CSU Bakersfield. At SJSU, he tied the WAC record for points in a conference match with a hat trick and an assist as the Falcons earned the 4-0 win. After assisting on the initial goal in the 52nd minute, Dewing tallied scores in the 55th, 61st and 87th minutes. With the big weekend, he now ranks fourth in the WAC in points (19) and is tied for the lead in assists with seven.
Chacon, a senior defensive midfielder from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Palos Verdes Peninsula HS), held lead the Falcon defense to a pair of wins as Air Force clinched the WAC regular season title. He totaled 163 minutes on the weekend as Air Force earned the team's 10th shutout of the season against San José State and then held CSU Bakersfield to just one shot on goal in a 2-1 win.
Other offensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Sebastial Mentel was responsible for all of the Roadrunner offense on the week, scoring twice in a 2-1 overtime win over Kansas City and once in a 2-1 loss to 15th-ranked Air Force … Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson scored a goal in each of the Lopes games on the week as GCU tied Seattle U and defeated Utah Valley to remain in the WAC tournament picture … UIW's Roberto Diaz Fernandez scored the eventual game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Houston Baptist on Sunday … Kansas City's Eric McWoods scored in back-to-back games as the Roos dropped a pair of one-goal games on the road … UNLV's Timo Mehlich had a pair of goals for the Rebels, including the overtime game-winner on Sunday against 22nd-ranked Seattle U … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ilias Kosmidis scored a goal and assisted on another in a 3-1 win at Houston Baptist … Utah Valley's Karson Payton scored a goal in each of UVU's road matches.
Other defensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Khadim Seye helped the Lopes defense earn a draw against nationally-ranked Seattle U and an overtime win over Utah Valley … UIW's William Redmann helped limit Houston Baptist to just two shots on goal in a 2-1 win on Sunday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Guillermo Martinez paced the Vaquero defense in a 3-1 road win at Houston Baptist … Utah Valley's Chandler Baddley helped the Wolverines force overtime at Grand Canyon on Sunday night.
UP NEXT
It's decision day in the WAC with seven teams in contention for the four remaining spots in the WAC Men's Soccer Tournament next week in Las Vegas. Air Force, Seattle U and UNLV have already clinched and will be on the road at Kansas City, Utah Valley and Grand Canyon respectively. CSU Bakersfield and San José State face off on Friday in a win-and-you're-in game in San Jose. UT Rio Grande Valley visits UIW as both teams will look for a win and some help from around the conference to earn the ticket to Las Vegas.
...AND EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE DO
With wins on the road at San José State and CSU Bakersfield, Air Force clinched its first ever WAC men's soccer title last weekend. Previous to this season, the Falcons' best finish in WAC play was a second-place finish in 1996, finishing just two points behind Fresno State.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Having clinched their first WAC men's soccer title last weekend, Air Force leads the league in goals (31), least goals allowed (9), goals against average (0.51) and shutouts (10). Seattle U leads the league in shots (357) and corners (128) while UNLV is tops in points (92) and assists (32). Houston Baptist is the leader in saves (88).
Individually, SU's Alex Roldan leads the WAC in shots (86). UNLV's Danny Musovski is the leader in points (30) and goals (12). Air Force duo Austin Dewing and Tucker Bone are tied for the lead in assists with seven each while teammate Klint Parker is the leader in game-winning goals with four. In goal, AF's John Wendt leads the WAC in goals against average (0.63) and save percentage (.818). CSU Bakersfield's Detre Bell is the leader in saves with 77 while SU's Josh Adachi has a WAC-high eight shutouts.
In conference-only play, Air Force leads the league in points (59), goals (20), least goals allowed (6), goals against average (0.63) and are tied with Seattle U for the lead in shutouts (4). Seattle U is also the leader in shots (193) while UNLV is the assists leader with 20. Houston Baptist leads the WAC in saves with 128 in WAC play.
Individually, SU's Roldan is tops in shots with 47 and UNLV's Musovski leads in points (18). Kansas City's Eric McWoods is the top goal scorer in conference play with eight goals while AF's Bone is the top assist man with six. UTRGV's Esa Aalto has the low goals-against average at 0.31 and top save percentage at .889. CSUB's Bell is the saves leader with 48.
ON THE MAP
Air Force continues its reign in the national polls as the Falcons are ranked ninth in the Soccer America Top 25, 14th in both the College Soccer News Top 30 and United Soccer Coaches Top 25 and 18th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25. Seattle U is also ranked in a pair of polls, holding the 23rd spot in the USC Top 25 and the 27th spot in the CSN Top 30.
REPPING THE RPI
Air Force is 20th in the latest RPI rankings released by the NCAA. Seattle U is next on the list at 56 while UNLV remains in the top 100 at 95.
BEST IN THE WEST
The United Soccer Coaches West Region Ranking stayed virtually the same this week. Air Force continues to hold down the top spot, followed by Seattle U in second. UNLV remained in sixth in the rankings.
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 eight 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 and recently passeed GCU's Alberto Sanchez-Garcia (2013-15) for the all-time lead in shots with 213.
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.