United Athletic Conference

Dixie State's Idris Alabi and California Baptist's Thomas Beecham have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for February 22 through February 28.

 

Alabi, a junior midfielder from Vail, Ariz., scored both the Trailblazers goals in a 2-1 win at UIW on Saturday. After taking the lead in the 20th minute, he scored the winning goal in the 64th minute to help Dixie State collect its first Division I win. On the season, his three goals and six points are both leading the WAC.

 

Beecham, a freshman defender from Newcastle, Australia, anchored the Lancer defense in a pair of matches on the week. On Wednesday, he started at center back in a double-overtime draw against UT Rio Grande Valley, holding the Vaqueros to just four shots on goal. He followed that up with another strong effort on Sunday at Houston Baptist, limiting the Huskies to just three shots on goal and tallying a goal of his own in a 2-1 win.

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Leo Mendez scored the late game-winner on Sunday at Houston Baptist … Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen scored two of three goals for the GCU in a 3-2 win at San José State … UIW's Wilmar Aguilar scored the Cardinals' only goal in a 2-1 loss to Dixie State … San José State's Nicolas Brenes tallied three points against Grand Canyon, scoring once and assists on another in a 3-2 loss … Seattle U's Habib Barry scored the Redhawks' lone goal in a 1-1 draw against UNLV on Saturday … Utah Valley's Jojea Kwizera assisted on UVU's first goal of the season and then tallied a score of his own later on in a 3-1 win at Air Force. 

 

Other defensive nominees: Dixie State's Jakob Moore made a pair of saves and earned the win in Saturday's 2-1 win at Incarnate Word … Grand Canyon's Esai Easley played all 90 minutes in a 3-2 win at San José State, helping hold the Spartans to just five shots … San José State's David Sweeney made seven saves in a 3-2 loss to Grand Canyon … Seattle U's Akili Kasim made eight saves to help secure a point in the Redhawks' 1-1 draw with UNLV … UT Rio Grande Valley's Trevor Schneider made six saves to earn his second shutout of the season in a scoreless draw at California Baptist … Utah Valley's Cameron Weston anchored the Wolverine defense that limited Air Force to just one shot on goal in a 3-1 win.

 

The calendar turns to March with a pair of games on Friday and three more on Saturday. On Friday, UT Rio Grande Valley visits Utah Valley and Houston Baptist heads to UNLV. On Saturday, UIW takes on California Baptist, Seattle U travels to Dixie State and Air Force plays at Grand Canyon.

 

Seattle U leads the league in shots (73), points (21), goals (7), saves (24) and corners (28) and are tied with San José State for the lead in assists (7). Utah Valley has the lead in goals per game (3.00) while SJSU holds the lead in assists per game (3.50). UT Rio Grande Valley has yet to allowe a goal in two matches and thus leads the league in goals allowed (0) and goals against average (0.00). UTRGV, Air Force and California Baptist are tied for the lead in shutouts with two each.

 

Indvidiually, SU's Noe Meza holds the lead in shots (15). UVU teammates Jojea Kwizera and Zach Maas holds the lead in shots per game (4.00) and Kwizera is also the leader in points per game (3.00). DSU's Idris Alabi is the leader in both goals (3) and points (6) and SJSU's Rudy Castro has the lead in assists (3) and assits per game (1.50). UTRGV's Trevor Schneider is the leader in goals against average (0.00), save percentage (1.000) and shutouts per game (1.00) and is tied with CBU's Gage Rogers and AF's Kainoa Likewise for the lead in shuouts with two each.

 

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 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 WAC makes up half of the initial United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional Rankings. Utah Valley is ranked the highest, coming in at fifth. UNLV is sixth, Seattle U is eighth, California Baptist is ninth and Grand Canyon is 10th.

 

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.