United Athletic Conference

San José State's Rudi Castro and UNLV's Miguel Duenas Jr. have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for March 29 through April 4.

 

Castro, a senior forward from San José, Calif., led the Spartans to a pair of overtime wins to clinch a WAC tournament berth. On Wednesday at Utah Valley, he recorded an assists on all three SJSU goals. He followed that up with the first assist on the game-winner in overtime to finish with four assists on the week and boosting his season total to nine. 

 

Duenas Jr., a sophomore goalkeeper from North Las Vegas, Nev., made four saves for his fourth straight shutout in a 2-0 win at Dixie State. In addition to going the entire month of March without allowing a goal, he holds a shutout streak of over 400 minutes, going back to a 1-1 tie at Seattle U on Feb. 27.

 

Other offensive nominees: Air Force's Michael Neacsu scored for the Falcons in their 3-1 win at UIW on Wednesday … California Baptist's Rueben Dass scored the only goal the Lancers needed in a 1-0 win over Seattle U … Houston Baptist's Bryant Farkarlun assisted on the Huskies' first two goals and scored the third in a 4-3 overtime loss to UT Rio Grande Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Juan Rivera helped the Vaqueros come back from down 3-0 at Houston Baptist, scoring a goal and assisting on another in a 4-3 overtime win.

 

Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Max Sole logged 90 minutes on the Falcons' back line as Air Force's only defensive lapse was an own goal in a 3-1 win at UIW … California Baptist's Gage Rogers made a pair of saves to earn a shutout against the WAC's top shooting team in a 1-0 win against Seattle U … San José State's David Sweeney was in net for all 192 minutes, making five saves in a pair of wins to clinch the Spartans' berth in the upcoming WAC Tournament.

 

Less than a week remains until the 2020-21 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament in Las Vegas but there is still a lot to be decided. Three games are scheduled for Friday with UIW heading to UT Rio Grande Valley, Houston Baptist traveling to Air Force and California Baptist playing at Utah Valley. A fourth match was schedule for Friday as well but Seattle U has been forced to cancel its match at San José State as a result of COVID-19 protocols. The final match of the regular season will be at the site of next week's tournament as Grand Canyon will be playing for the regular season title and top seed when they travel to UNLV on Saturday. 

 

Seattle U leads the league in shots (146), goals (17) and saves (46). San José State is the leader in points (57), assists (3.12) and assists per game (3.12). Grand Canyon is the leader in goals per game (1.89) as well as goals allowed (5). UNLV is the leader in goals against averagve (0.83) and shutouts (5) while UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in corners (66).

 

Individually, CBU's Luis Mueller has the lead in shots (34) and shots per game (3.40). UTRGV's William Akio is the leader in points (16), goals (7) and goals per game (0.88) and is tied with GCU's Justin Rasmussen for the lead in points per game (2.00). SJSU's Rudi Castro holds the lead in assists (9) and assists per game (1.12). In net, UNLV's Miguel Duenas Jr. has the lead in goals against average (0.26), save percentage (.926) and shutouts (5). SU's Akili Kasim holds the lead in saves (39) and saves per game (4.88).

 

A pair of WAC teams are within the top 15 of the latest NCAA RPI rankings and two more reside within the top 50. Grand Canyon leads the way at 12 with UT Rio Grande Valley just two spots down at 14. California Baptist is 42nd and San José State is 43rd.

 

For the first time this season, the WAC has two teams in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 as Grand Canyon moved up one spot to 15th and UT Rio Grande Valley entered the poll at 25th.  GCU is also 17th in the College Soccer News Top 25 and  23rd in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 30. UTRGV is among those receiving votes in the CSN Top 25.

 

Grand Canyon is the top WAC program in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25, coming in at third. UT Rio Grande Valley is fourth, followed by San José State in sixth, UNLV in seventh, Seattle U in eighth and California Baptist in ninth.

 

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.

 

Utah Valley head coach Greg Maas announced his resignation on March 28 to pursue other career opportunities. Associate head coach Michael Chesler has been named interim head coach.

 

Due to COVID-19 protocals, Seattle U has canceled their final match of the season, scheduled for April 9 at San José State.

 

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.

 

Utah Valley was forced to take a break in action due to positive COVID-19 tests and subsequent contact tracing that wiped out UVU's matches against Dixie State and Seattle U.

 

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.