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UVU'S LEME, UTRGV'S RIOS NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Gui Leme and UT Rio Grande Valley's Andy Rios have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 4 - 10.
Leme, a sophomore forward from Sao Paulo, Brazil (Lehi HS), was named Offensive MVP of the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central Tournament after contributing to each Wolverine goal on the weekend. On Friday at Cal State Fullerton, he scored the first goal in the 23rd minute to give UVU the early lead and then assisted on an insurance goal in the 71st minute of the 2-0 win over the Titans. He continued his strong play on Sunday against San Diego State, scoring his second goal of the season in the 11th minute to give the Wolverines the 1-0 win over the Aztecs.
Rios, a sophomore goalkeeper from Highlands, Texas (Goose Creek Memorial HS), had a pair of shutouts as the Vaqueros used wins over Loyola Chicago and Northern Illinois to win the NIU Adidas Invitational. Against Loyola Chicago, he made three saves on eight shots as UTRGV earned a hard-fought 1-0 win. He followed that up with four saves on 12 total shots in a 2-0 win over Northern Illinois to earn all-tournament honors while leading UTRGV to the pair of victories.
Other offensive nominees: Air Force's Tucker Bone scored on a header in the 35th minute to lift the Falcons to a 1-0 win over service academy rival Army West Point … Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson scored the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Evansville and assisted on the Lopes' lone goal in a 2-1 loss at 23rd-ranked Pacific … Houston Baptist's Malik Key scored his first goal of the season in a 3-0 win at Gardner-Webb on Sunday … Kansas City's Henry Ramirez helped support the Roos offense in a 1-1 tie with Memphis … San José State's Jeremy Romero collected the brace with a pair of goal in the Spartans' 2-0 win over Saint Mary's … Seattle U's Cody Gibson scored both goals in the Redhawks' 2-0 win at 22nd-ranked Gonzaga on Sunday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Ilias Kosmidis scored a pair of goals as the Vaqueros won the NIU Adidas Invitational with wins over Loyola Chicago and Northern Illinois,
Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Trey Pujats was instrumental in leading the Falcons to a shutout win over service academy rival Army West Point … Grand Canyon's Jeremy Pollard made nine saves in the Lopes' 1-0 win over Evansville on Thursday … Houston Baptist's Bryan Brody anchored the Husky defense to a spit, falling 1-0 at Georgia Southern before earning 3-0 win at Gardner-Webb … Kansas City's Antoine Precheur played all 120 minutes of a 1-1 tie with Memphis and helped hold the Tigers to just six shots on goal … San José State's Alex Clewis made a pair of saves to lead the Spartans to a 2-0 win over Saint Mary's … Seattle U's Josh Adachi made a pair of saves to help the Redhawks earn a 2-0 win at 22nd-ranked Gonzaga … Utah Valley's Elliott Rubio was named Defensive MVP of the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central Tournament with shutout wins over Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State.
UP NEXT
The WAC will look to continues its winning ways this week with a total of 17 games spread across the region. CSU Bakersfield makes the trip to Las Vegas this weekend to join host UNLV in taking on Gonzaga and Saint Francis at the Johann Memorial Classic. Utah Valley plays host to 10th-ranked Omaha on Sunday while San José State makes the trip to Stockton for a match at 14th-ranked Pacific. Seattle U will look to keep the nation's longest home winning streak alive as they host Santa Clara on Thursday and Drexel on Sunday while Kansas City looks to stay undefeated when they host Western Illinois on Saturday. Air Force will also look to fly into the Top 25 when they host St. Mary's and UC Davis.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Fresh off a pair of wins, Seattle U leads the WAC in shots (92), points (22) and assists (8). The Redhawks are also tied with Air Force for the lead in goals with seven each. Kansas City is currently the top defensive team, having allowed just one goal (which came on a penalty kick), posting a 0.22 goals against average. UNLV and Grand Canyon hold the lead for saves with 21 each while Utah Valley, Kansas City, Seattle U and Air Force have all put up three shutouts on the year.
Individually, Kansas City's Eric McWoods leads the WAC in shots (20). GCU's Niki Jackson is the leader in points (7) and is tied with San José State's Jeremy Romero for the lead in goals (3). Eight players are tied for the lead in assists with two each while UVU's Gui Leme holds the lead in game-winning goals with two, both coming last weekend in California. UMKC's Filippo Errico is the top keeper with a 0.22 goals against average and a .950 save percentage. He also has a WAC-high 19 saves on the year.
ON THE MAP
Despite going 10-5-1 on the week, the WAC only cracked the national rankings in one poll but they aren't too far away in the others. Seattle U heads into the week ranked 24th in the College Soccer News Top 30 with Utah Valley just three spots back at 27th. The Redhawks and Wolverines are joined by Air Force among those receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 while the Falcons are also among those considered for the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25.
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 2-1 overtime win over Mercer was the Redhawks' 19th-straight home win, which leads the nation. Rider and St. Francis Brooklyn are tied for the next best streak with nine straight home wins apiece.
BEST IN THE WEST
The WAC continues to have four teams in the United Soccer Coaches West Region poll. Air Force used a win over Army West Point to jump from fourth to second. Seattle U moved up to third from sixth following a win at home over Mercer and on the road at Gonzaga. Despite two wins in California, Utah Valley dropped a spot to fourth to make way for the Falcons and the Redhawks while Kansas City stayed firm at eighth following a tie with Memphis. Omaha is the top team in the region and will bring their 6-0-0 record to Orem this weekend for a neutral site game against Northern Illinois on Friday and a road match at Utah Valley on Sunday.
REPPING THE RPI
While the NCAA hasn't officially released any RPI rankings for the 2017 season yet, the WAC is the fourth ranked conference in the RPI Update rankings, trailing only the ACC, Big Ten and Colonial. Air Force leads WAC teams with an RPI of 25, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley (26), Seattle U (33) and Utah Valley (37) all in the top 50. In addition, Grand Canyon has the eighth toughest schedule in the country and UTRGV ranked 15th in SOS.
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 eighth-largest crowd in NCAA Division I men's soccer this season as the Wolverines rank 10th nationally in attendance with an average of 3,182. 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 is currently tied with Tulsa's Donivan Bradshaw (1996-99) for the most points in WAC men's soccer history with 84. He is also second all-time on the goals list with 33, four behind Bradshaw, but he has company as Grand Canyon's Niki Jackson has 32 goals in his Lopes career, which ties him for third with New Mexico's Justin Sells (1996-97). Musovski is also tied for fourth all time in assists with 18 while Johnson's 187 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.