Taking on Pacific Northwest rival Portland, the Seattle U Redhawks couldn't find late-game heroics once more, falling 3-2 to the Pilots in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.

 

The Redhawks opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Alex Acton-Petronotis fed in a ball to WAC Tournament MVP Noe Meza, who gave SU a 1-0 lead on his seventh goal of the season. The Pilots struck back just over three minutes later and then took the lead less than three minutes after that on a pair of goals by Alejandro Pereira.

 

After the halftime break, Portland pushed the lead to 3-1 in the 63rd minute on a score by Wesley Frankel. The Redhawks cut the deficit in half in the 81st minute as Levonte Johnson scored his ninth goal of the season but that would be the last goal of the night as Portland snuck by with the 3-2 win.

 

The Redhawks outshot the Pilots 20-9 on the night and also heald a 10-3 advantage on corner kicks. Seattle U finishes the season with a record of 13-8-1.

 

After giving up an first-half goal, Grand Canyon couldn't find the back of the net, falling to visiting Denver, 1-0, in the first round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.

 

The Pioneers scored in the 24th minute as Kengo Ohira scored his fourth goal of the season on the assist from Aidan O'Toole. That would prove to be the only goal of the match as Denver advances to play eighth-seeded Clemson on Sunday.

 

The Lopes outshot DU, 14-10, but Pioneer keeper Will Desantis made all four saves he needed to make. GCU keeper Anthony Munoz played well, making three saves, but it wasn't enough to earn the win. Grand Canyon closes out the season with a record of 15-4-1.

 

In a tournament that featured 24 total goals, including seven in the final five minutes of the five matches, Seattle U outlasted host Grand Canyon in penalty kicks on Sunday to win their fifth WAC Tournament, all of which have come in odd numbered years.

 

SU's Noe Meza was named tournament MVP after scoring the equalizing goal in the 89th minute of the final match. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Levonte Johnson, James Morris and Hal Uderitz. Grand Canyon had three honored as Esai Easley, Rey Gaytan and Shaun-Chris Joash earned recognition. Air Force duo Thaddaeus Dewing and Kainoa Likewise represented the Falcons. San José State's Rudi Castro and Utah Valley's Jojea Kwizera rounded out the 11-man squad.

 

Seattle U led the WAC in shots (329), goals (46) and corner kicks (138). Grand Canyon was the leader in points (132), goals per game (2.20), assists (44), least goals allowed (0.95) and goals against average (0.94) and the Lopes tied with San José State for the lead in shutouts (6). SJSU was also in the tie with Chicago State for the most saves (87). Utah Valley held the lead in assists per game (2.35).

 

Individually, SU's Declan McGlynn held the lead in shots (75) while SJSU's Rudi Castro held the lead in shots per game (3.67). AF's Tristan Trager was the lead in points (33) and points per game (1.83) and was tied with CBU's Bryan Iliohan for the lead in goals (13) and goals per game (0.72). UVU's Jojea Kwizera ranked first in assists (11) and assists per game (0.65) while GCU's Justin Rasmussen held the lead in game-winning goals (5).

In goal, CBU's Evan Ince held the top goals against average (0.82) and save percentage (.846). SU's Akili Kasim was the leader in total saves (85) while SJSU's David Sweeney held the top spot in saves per game (4.64). Kasim and Sweeney were also tied for the lead in shutouts with four each.

 

Eight WAC men's soccer players have been named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region team for the 2021 fall season.

 

Seattle U picked up half of the honors as junior forward Levonte Johnson was named a first team selection and Akili Kasim, Hal Uderitz and Declan McGlynn were all named to the Second Team.

 

Grand Canyon had three honored as Justin Rasmussen was a first-team pick and Esai Easley joined Shaun-Chris Joash on the second team. The final selection went to San José State midfielder Max Allen, who earned first team honors.

 

Due to the lightning-forced cancelation of the schedule match between Utah Valley and UT Rio Grande Valley on Oct. 1, the standings reverted to a points per match format for the remainder of the 2021 season.

 

Three WAC men's soccer players were honored for their success in the classroom as well as on the field as UT Rio Grande Valley's Jan Engels, San Jose State's Willy Miranda and Seattle U's James Morris were named Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

 

Engels, a senior defender who boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA as a management major, represented the Vaqueros on the District 7 squad.Miranda, a graduate midfielder with a 3.84 GPA as a Spanish major, and Morris, a junior forward with a 3.78 GPA as a pre-business major, were named to the District 8 team.

 

Grand Canyon briefly held the NCAA seasonal high for attendance when 5,018 fans packed themselves into GCU Stadium on Sep. 10 and were treated to a 1-0 Lopes win over Saint Mary's. On the season, GCU ranked 14th nationally in average attendance at 1,555 while Utah Valley is 22nd at 1,169.

 

Grand Canyon finished the 2021 campaign among two national polls and just outside the final poll. The Lopes are 19th in the Top Drawer Scocer Top 25, 27th in the College Soccer News Top 30 and among those receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25.

 

In the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional Ranking, three WAC schools hold spots. Grand Canyon dropped three spots to sixth. UT Rio Grande Valley entered the poll at eighth with San José State coming in at ninth.

 

Going into the selection show, Grand Canyon was ranked 12th in the NCAA RPI Rankings. Seattle U was 31st and Air Force was 95th to round out WAC teams in the top 100.

 

Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Lopes received six of 12 first-place votes to finish with 110 points for the preseason nod. Seattle U was just two points back, picking up four first-place votes to tally 108 points. San José State grabbed the final two first place votes to finish third with 94 points. Air Force was fourth with 89 points, followed closely by UT Rio Grande Valley in fifth with 86 points. California Baptist was sixth with 76 points, UNLV was seventh with 68 points and Utah Valley was eighth with 55 points. UIW was ninth, followed by Dixie State and Houston Baptist in a tie for 10th and Chicago State rounding out the poll in 12th. 

 

Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen and Esai Easley were selected as the WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

Rasmussen and Easley were joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by teammate Maximilian Moeller. San José State also had three honored with Willy Miranda, Max Allen and Carlos Gomez Zavala earning recognition. Seattle U was represented by Noe Meza and Akili Kasim. Also earning recognition were Air Force's London Aghedo, California Baptist's Thomas Beecham and UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes.

 

The WAC will have some strong competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule with seven matches scheduled against participants from last spring's NCAA Tournament. Grand Canyon and Seattle U have two each with both the Lopes and Redhawks scheduled to play both Washington and Oregon State. Air Force is also scheduled to take on Oregon State while Utah Valley will host Washington. Finally, San José State will take on nearby-rival Stanford.

 

Utah Valley has announced former US National Team member Kyle Beckerman as its next head coach. Beckerman retired after a monumentally successful 21-year professional and international career in December. He spent 14 of those seasons in Utah with Real Salt Lake, where he was a captain and led the team to a 2009 MLS Cup. He also had 58 caps as a member of the U.S. National Team, including starting appearances in the 2014 World Cup. In 2020, he was named one of Major League Soccer's 25 Greatest Players of all-time.

 

Former MLS SuperDraft Pick and All-American defender at UCLA Leonard Griffin will take over as head coach at Grand Canyon, replacing the retiring Schellas Hyndman. Griffin heads to Phoenix after two seasons as the head coach at San Francisco. He also served as an assistant at Saint Mary's, California and UCLA and he began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal State San Bernadino. 

 

Current Seattle Sounders FC and former Seattle U defender Alex Roldan was voted by fans as an MLS All-Star and joined his brother Cristian on Aug. 25 as the best of the MLS take on the best of Liga MX at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The MLS bested Liga MX in penalty kicks, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw with Alex playing the entire first half at right back.

 

The 2021 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament will feature the top six teams on November 10, 12, 14 at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals.