United Athletic Conference

 

Seattle U's Ava Benedetti and Grand Canyon's Jordan Ferguson were selected as the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for March 29 through April 4, respectively.

 

Benedetti, a sophomore midfielder from Happy Valley, Ore., helped the Redhawks to a sweep over NM State as she recorded eight total points against the Aggies. She recorded a brace in both outings last week, including finishing the game-winner in Saturday's 3-2 victory. She now has seven goals on the season to sit in a tie for third most among WAC goal scorers.

 

Ferguson, a freshman goalkeeper from Phoenix, Ariz., posted an impressive 16 saves in a pair of matches against California Baptist who entered the week with the league's top scoring offense. On Saturday, Ferguson recorded her second shutout of the season as she made eight saves to lead the Lopes to a 4-0 win. On the season, Ferguson now paces the WAC in goals-against average at 0.77.

 

Other offensive nominees:  Dixie State's Whitley Griffiths notched the game-winner for the Trailblazers on Sunday against UT Rio Grande Valley… Grand Canyon's Marleen Schimmer recorded four points last week as she assisted on a pair of corner kick goals and scored a goal of her own against CBU… NM State's Jocelyn Tallent-Burleson scored her first career goal on Saturday against Seattle U… UT Rio Grande Valley's Emily Zapata converted her second career penalty kick as she posted her fifth goal of the season last week… Utah Valley's Anna Pickering recorded a brace on Saturday against Chicago State after assisting on the game winner the night before.

 

Other defensive nominees: Dixie State's Adelle Brown collected seven saves in a 2-1 win over UTRGV on Sunday… NM State's Dmitri Fong tallied seven stops against Seattle U on Saturday… UT Rio Grande Valley's Macie Blohowiak notched a handful of saves in her second career start for the Vaqueros.

 

Following Tuesday's game between UT Rio Grande Valley and Dixie State in St. George, each WAC team has just one regular-season match remaining on its schedule. Three of the four remaining conference contests are scheduled for Friday, with UTRGV visiting Chicago State, Grand Canyon traveling to NM State, and Seattle U taking on California Baptist. Saturday night's in-state battle between Dixie State and Utah Valley will be the final contest prior to next week's WAC Championship Tournamernt in Phoenix.

 

Seattle U used a six-goal weekend against NM State to pull into a tie for the conference's goal-scoring lead with California Baptist. The Redhawks and Lancers, who face each other in their regular-season finale on Friday in Irvine, have scored 37 goals each... CBU is tops in the conference with 38 assists, followed by Seattle U with 33 and Grand Canyon with 32 helpers... California Baptist, Utah Valley, and UT Rio Grande Valley are currently in a dead heat for the top spot in team goals-against average, with CBU (0.840) leading the way. UVU (0.847) and UTRGV (0.848) are just a few points behind the Lancers in that department... Utah Valley leads the WAC with eight shutouts, holding opponents scoreless in nearly half of its 17 matches on the season.

 

Seattle U's Sydney Carr holds down the top spot again among the national goal-scoring rankings, having upped her season total to 16 goals and 36 points. She also moved into a tie for the WAC lead with four game-winning goals after a game-winning tally against NM State last week... Dixie State's Whitley Griffiths became the second WAC player to reach double digits in goals with her 10th of the year against UT Rio Grande Valley on Sunday, and Griffiths is the only other player in the conference with more than 20 points this season... Four goalkeepers now have goals-against averages below 1.00 on the season, with California Baptist's Romy Salvador continuing to lead the way at 0.61. She is also one of three keepers with a save percentage above .800 (.820). Grand Canyon's Jordan Ferguson is second in goals-against average (0.77) and first in save percentage (.842), and Maile Lunardi of UT Rio Grande Valley has a 0.92 GAA and .837 save percentage.

 

WAC members finished 7-15-4 in non-conference matches, securing two wins each against Conference USA, the Southland Conference, and non-Division I foes. The other non-league win came versus the West Coast Conference.

 

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.