United Athletic Conference

UT Rio Grande Valley's Gina Steiner and Maile Lunardi were selected as the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for Feb. 8 through Feb. 14, respectively.

 

Steiner, a senior midfielder from Nuremberg, Germany, scored her second goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 19th minute to help UTRGV earn a 1-0 win at UTSA and improve to 3-0-1 on the young season. Both of her goals this season have been game-winners and she is tied with two others for the early lead in goals scored.

 

Lunardi, a junior goalkeeper from Highland Park, Ill., posted her second and third shutouts of the season in a scoreless draw at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a 1-0 win at UTSA. Against TAMCC, she made a pair of saves over 110 minutes to secure the clean sheet. She followed that up with four saves in San Antonio to help UTRGV extend its shutout streak to over 330 minutes. On the season, she has allowed just one goal in 385:14 for a WAC-best 0.23 goals-against average and her .941 save percentage is also a league-high. 

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Deniah Wells scored her second goal of the season in the Lancers' 1-1 draw at Loyola Marymount … Chicago State's Sara Quevedo scored the Cougars' lone goal in a 2-1 loss at Valparaiso on Wednesday … Dixie State's Whitley Griffiths put a goal on the board in the Trailblazers' 2-1 loss to Utah on Thursday … Grand Canyon's Jaycee Iranshad scored for the Lopes in a 3-2 loss to Arizona State on Thursday night … Utah Valley's Amber Tripp led UVU with five shots, including three on goal, in a scoreless draw at UTEP.

 

Other defensive nominees: Dixie State's Tess Donaldson played stout defense for the Trailblazers in a 2-1 loss to Utah and 1-1 draw with Southern Utah … NM State's Makenna Gottschalk totaled eight saves on the week in a pair of road losses at UTEP and Arizona … Seattle U's Madison Waguespack made a career-high nine saves in a 1-0 loss at Washington on Thursday … Utah Valley's Isabel Jones-Dawe made one save to earn the shutout in UVU's scoreless draw at UTEP on Saturday.

 

The WAC portion of the schedule gets under\way this week featuring the pandemic-forcing format of two matches against the same opponent at the same site. With matches scheduled to be played on Thursday and Saturday, the conference season begins with Chicago State traveling to El Paso to take on NM State, Dixie State heading to SoCal to take on California Baptist, Seattle U making the trek to the Valley to take on UT Rio Grande Valely and Utah Valley heading to Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon.

 

Through the first two weeks of the season, California Baptist is the leader in shots (68), points (25), goals (9), goals per game (3.00), assists (7), assists per game (2.33) and corner kicks (25). UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in goals allowed (1), goals against average (0.23) and shutouts (3).

 

Individually, CBU's Karley Weeks is the leader in shots (13) and is tied with UVU's Sadie Brockbank and UTRGV's Gina Steiner for the lead in goals (2). CBU's Deniah Wells has the lead in points (5) while UVU's Heather Stainbrook and Ari Coronado are tied for the lead in assists (2). UTRGV's Steiner also holds the lead in game-winning goals (2) and her teammate Maile Lunardi has the lead in goals against average (0.23), save percentage (.941), saves (16) and shutouts (3).

 

Seattle U is the preseason favorite to win the 2020-21 Western Athletic Conference women's soccer title in a vote of the league's eight head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Redhawks received five of eight first-place votes for 46 total points to earn the preseason nod by just two points over Utah Valley, who collected the remaining three first-place votes and 44 points. California Baptist was picked third with 37 points, followed by Grand Canyon in fourth with 31 points. UT Rio Grande Valley is predicted fifth with 25 points, followed by NM State in sixth, Dixie State in seventh and Chicago State in eighth.

 

Utah Valley's Amber Tripp and Seattle U's Michelle Adam were selected as the WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's eight head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

Tripp is joined on the Preseason All-WAC team by teammates Jenna Shepard, Katie Haskins and Isabel Jones-Dawe. Adam was one of two Redhawks honored as teammate Leahi Manthei was also recognized. Grand Canyon also had two players honored as Lindsey Prokop and Marleen Schmimmer represented the Lopes. Also earning honors were California Baptist's Erin Gallagher, Chicago State's Sara Quevedo and UT Rio Grande Valley's Emily Zapata.

 

Dixie State head coach Molly Rouse will lead the Trailblazers into their Division I era after serving two seasons at an assistant at Minnesota. Also donning a new color, but not new to the WAC, is Grand Canyon head coach Chris Cissell, who came to GCU after nine seasons at Kansas City, where he claimed 102 victories, three WAC regular-season titles and two WAC Coach of the Year honors.

 

The 2020-21 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament will feature the six eligible teams on April 13, 17, and 19 at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals. Six of the eight soccer-playing members of the WAC will compete in the tournament, as California Baptist and Dixie State are not yet eligible to compete in the championship.

 

As Tarleton continues its growth to NCAA Division I, the athletics department will be adding women's soccer with the expectation to begin play in the fall of 2022. The nationwide search for a head coach is ongoing and the finalist will be named this spring, allowing for a full year of recruitment before beginning the inaugural soccer season.

 

On Jan. 14, the WAC announced the addition of five new schools in the near future. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin were all offered and accepted membership invitations and will join the WAC on July 1, 2021. Southern Utah also received and accepted a membership invitation, and will join the league on July 1, 2022. With the additions, the WAC will have six schools in Texas, more than any other conference in the country, and three schools in Utah, also a national best.