United Athletic Conference

UIW's Kevin Gutia and Seattle U's Akili Kasim have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for February 8 through February 14.

 

Guita, a senior from Augsburg, Germany, sparked the Cardinals' come-from-behind win over UNLV with the first of three unanswered goals in the 35th minute. He then added an assist on the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to help the Cardinals open the delayed 2020-21 season with a win at home.

 

Kasim, a redshirt junior goalkeeper from Seattle, picked up his first clean sheet of the season with five saves in a 3-0 shutout win at Houston Baptist. His 16 saves through three matches played are the top in the WAC this season.

 

Other offensive nominees: Seattle U's Deniz Dogan scored a goal and assisted on another in the Redhawks' 3-0 win at Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon.

 

Other defensive nominees: None

 

After a bumpy opening few weeks, there is a full schedule on the docket this week. San José State looks to open the season on Saturday at newcomer Dixie State. Also on Saturday, UT Rio Grande Valley makes the trip to California Baptist, UIW heads to Utah Valley, Houston Baptist visits Grand Canyon and Air Force flies into Las Vegas to take on UNLV. The lone non-conference match features Seattle U hosting Portland on Sunday evening.

 

Seattle U leads the league in shots (55), points (17), goals (6), saves (16), corners (17) and are tied with Air Force for the lead in assists (5) and with CBU, AF, UTRGV and HBU for the lead in shutouts (1). 

Air Force is also tied with California Baptist and UT Rio Grande Valley for the lead in goals allowed (0) and subsequent 0.00 goals-against average.

 

Individually, SU's Noe Meza has the early lead in shots (12) and teammate Jesse Ortiz has the lead in goals (2) and points (4). AF's London Aghedo and UIW's Kevin Gutia are tied for the lead in points per game (3.00) while AF's Quinn Matulis and UNLV's Bailey Letherman are tied for the lead in assists (2). In net, three keepers have a perfect 0.00 goals against average and 1.000 save percentage. SU's Akili Kasim is the leader in saves (16) while UIW's Nils Roth is the leader in saves per game (8.00).

 

Grand Canyon head coach Schellas Hyndman announced that this spring season will be the final one of his successful career. In addition to over 500 collegiate wins at Eastern Illinois, SMU and GCU, he was head coach at FC Dallas for six years, earning 2010 MLS Coach of the Year honors.

 

A positive COVID-19 test within the Dixie State men's soccer program forced the Trailblazers to cancel a pair of games in California. DSU's non-conference match at San Diego State on Feb. 11 and its WAC match at California Baptist on Feb. 13 were both scrapped.

 

Due to restrictions in Santa Clara County that did not allow San José State to practice for much of January, the Spartans have elected not to play their first two WAC games of the season. The affected matches include UIW on Feb. 6 and at Air Force on Feb. 13. 

 

Positive COVID-19 test results have forced California Baptist to cancel its first two matches of the season. The Lancers were scheduled to open the 2020-21 season on Wednesday at Pacific before visiting Las Vegas for the WAC opener against UNLV. It was later announced that the CBU at UNLV match will now take place on March 22 in Las Vegas.

 

Seattle U is ranked 19th in the latest College Soccer News Top 30. The United Soccer Coaches Top 25 is expected to return on Feb. 23.

 

The 2020-21 season marks the initial WAC campaign for three head coaches in the league. Dixie State head coach Jonny Broadhead leads the Trailblazers into the Division I era in his fourth season in St. George. UIW's Kiki Lara returns to his alma mater after leading Eastern Illinois. UT Rio Grande Valley's Bryheem Hancock was the final coach hired for the season, coming to the valley in November after serving as head coach at Radford for the last three seasons.

 

Seattle U is the preseason favorite to win the 2020-21 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 Redhawks received nine of 11 first-place votes and 98 total points to earn the preseason nod. Utah Valley was selected second with a first-place vote and 81 points. Air Force was selected third with 79 points, followed by Grand Canyon, who earned fourth with the final first-place vote and 65 total points. UNLV was selected fifth with 63 points, followed by San José State in sixth points. California Baptist earned the seventh spot with 54 points, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in eighth, Houston Baptist in ninth, UIW in 10th and newcomer Dixie State in 11th. 

 

Seattle U's Noe Meza and Alex Acton-Petronotis 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.

 

Meza and Acton-Petronotis were joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by teammates James Morris and Akili Kasim. San José State was the only other team with multiple players honored as forward Rudi Castro and midfielder Max Allen each picked up the preseason recognition. Also earning recognition were Air Force's Tristan Trager, Grand Canyon's Esai Easley, UNLV's Billy Jones, UT Rio Grande Valley's William Akio and Utah Valley's Mark Brown.

 

The 2020-21 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament will feature the top six teams on April 13, 17, and 19 at Johann Memorial Field in Las Vegas. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals.