United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's Bryan Iliohan and Seattle U's Akili Kasim have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for March 1  through March 7.

 

Iliohan, a sophomore forward from Nieuw-Wennep, Holland, provided all the offense for the Lancers in a 2-1 win over Incarnate Word on Saturday. Scoring on the only two shots he took, he was able to keep CBU unbeaten on the season. Now with three goals on the season, he is tied with three other players for the WAC scoring lead.

 

Kasim, a redshirt junior goalkeeper from Seattle, made seven saves in a 2-0 win at Dixie State to collect his second shutout of the season and help the Redhawks improve to 3-1-1 on the season. He has a WAC-high 31 saves on the season and his 0.74 goals against average ranks fourth in the WAC this season.

 

Other offensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen scored his third goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Air Force on Saturday night … UIW's Koen Vos scored the Cardinals' lone goal in a 2-1 loss at California Baptist on Saturday … UT Rio Grande Valley's William Akio scored his first two goals of the year, including a penalty kick goal, in a 3-1 win at Utah Valley on Friday.

 

Other defensive nominees: Grand Canyon's George Tasouris recorded his first shutout of the season, making one save in a 1-0 win over Air Force on Saturday night … UIW's Charles Beck made seven saves in his first career start in a 2-1 loss at California Baptist … UNLV's Gabriel Claudio played all 90 minutes on the back line in the Rebels' 1-0 shutout win over Houston Baptist on Friday … UT Rio Grande Valley's Trevor Schneider made four saves in UTRGV's 3-1 win at Utah Valley on Friday.

 

Following an Emerald City Derby on Wednesday between Seattle U and Washington and a rescheduled WAC match between Dixie State and CBU, the schedule turns to Saturday for a full slate of matches. UNLV travels to UT Rio Grande Valley, Seattle U visits Air Force, San José State heads to Houston Baptist, Grand Canyon treks to UIW and Dixie State heads north to Utah Valley.

 

Seattle U leads the league in shots (94), points (28), goals (9), assists (10), saves (31) and corners (32) and  are tied with four other schools for the lead in shutouts with two. UT Rio Grande Valley has the lead in goal allowed (1) and goals against average (0.31).

 

Individually, SU's Noe Meza has the lead in shots (18). GCU's Justin Rasmussen, CBU's Bryan Iliohan and SU's Habib Barry are all tied for the lead in points (7).Those three, as well as DSU's Idris Alabi, are also tied for the lead in goals (3) while SJSU's Rudy Castro holds the lead in assists (4). UNLV's Miguel Duenas Jr. has the top goals against average (0.29) and UTRGV's Trevor Schneider has the lead in save percentages (.944). SU's Akili Kasim is the leader in saves (31).

 

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. 

 

In the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional rankings, Grand Canyon moved up from 10th to fourth. UT Rio Grande Valley entered the poll at fifth, California Baptist went from ninth to sixth, Seattle U jumped a spot to seventh, UNLV fell two spots to sixth and Utah Valley fell five spots to 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.