United Athletic Conference

After making their second NCAA tournament in the past three seasons, Grand Canyon fell to eighth-seed Washington, 2-0. The Huskies saw goals in the 21st and 55th minutes to advance. GCU had the best early threat when senior forward Marco Afonso sent a shot over the crossbar, but a Lopes foul set up a free kick above the box. GCU keeper George Tasouris made three saves in the postseason match.

 

The clock struck midnight on Air Force's Cinderella run as the Falcons fell to sixth-seed Seton Hall, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Air Force's defense was put to task early on as the Falcons struggled to get the ball into their attacking third, spending the majority of the first half defending against an aggressive Pirates team who took nine shots and five corners in the first 45. After Seton Hall took the lead in the 64th minute, Air Force refused to go quietly, pressing their offense on a weary Seton Hall defense. The Falcons were ignited in the 75th minute as Elijah Bussey pressed into the box and serviced Tristan Trager who chipped the ball in for the equalizer.

After an intense 12 minutes of offensive action from both squads, Seton Hall closed it out with a goal in the 89th minute as CJ Tibbling beat two Falcon defenders to finish over the reach of Kainoa Likewise. 

 

Saving the best for last, the Air Force Falcons became the first sixth-seed to win the WAC Men's Soccer Tournament, knocking off the top three seeds en route to the title with a shootout win over third-seed San José State, a 1-0 win over second-seed UT Rio Grande Valley and a 3-0 win over top-seed Grand Canyon. Quinn Matulis was named Tournament MVP after scoring a goal and assisting on three others. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by teammates London Aghedo, Jacob Angeletti and Kainoa Likewise. The remainder of the all-tournament team featured Grand Canyon's Maximilian Moeller, George Tasouris and Tosh Yasuda, Seattle U's Akili Kasim and James Morris, San José State's Rudi Castro and UNLV's Jesus Partida.

 

In a pandemic-delayed season, Seattle U led the WAC in shots (161) and Air Force led the league in points (69), goals (22) and saves (59). San José State was the leader in goals per game (2.00), assists (27) and assists per game (3.00). UT Rio Grande Valley had the lead in goals allowed (9) and goals against average (0.86) and UNLV had the lead in shutouts (5).

 

Individually, CBU's Luis Mueller held the lead in shots (36) while SU's Noe Meza is the leader in shots per game (3.33). SJSU's Rudi Castro held the lead in points (19), points per game (2.11), assists (9) and assists per game (1.00). UTRGV's William Akio was the leader in goals (7) and goals per game (1.00). In goal, UNLV's Miguel Duenas Jr. led the WAC in goals against average (0.73), save percentage (.825) and shutouts (5). AF's Kainoa Likewise was the leader in saves (56) and SU's Akili Kasim had the best saves per game average (5.10).

 

Grand Canyon men's soccer senior Justin Rasmussen was named the first NCAA Division I All-America honoree in program history by the United Soccer Coaches. The midfielder was selected for the All-America third team, making him the only men's soccer player in the WAC to earn All-America honors. He helped lead the Lopes to a 7-0 regular season and WAC regular-season title, both of which occurred for the first time in program history. As one of the Lopes' two captains, he helped GCU earn its highest ranking in program history at No. 15 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll on April 6. Rasmussen started all 10 matches for the Lopes this season, leading GCU to its second NCAA tournament appearance in three years.

 

Nine WAC men's soccer players have been named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region team for the 2021 spring season. Grand Canyon dominated the awards, picking up five first-team honors. California Baptist and UT Rio Grande Valley each had two honored while Houston Baptist earned one honor. The Lopes were represented by George Tasouris, Esai Easley, Justin Rasmussen and Maximillian Moeller. UTRGV's William Akio also earned first team honors after being named WAC Offensive Player of the Year. Second team honorees included UTRGV's Elyad Shojaei, California Baptist duo Thomas Beecham and Chris Heckenberg and Houston Baptist's Bryant Farkarlun.

 

Utah Valley has announced former US National Team member Kyle Beckerman as its next head coach. Beckerman retired after a monumentally successful 21-year professional and international career in December. He spent 14 of those seasons in Utah with Real Salt Lake, where he was a captain and led the team to a 2009 MLS Cup. He also had 58 caps as a member of the U.S. National Team, including starting appearances in the 2014 World Cup. In 2020, he was named one of Major League Soccer's 25 Greatest Players of all-time.

 

Former MLS SuperDraft Pick and All-American defender at UCLA Leonard Griffin will take over as head coach at Grand Canyon, replacing the retiring Schellas Hyndman. Griffin heads to Phoenix after two seasons as the head coach at San Francisco. He also served as an assistant at Saint Mary's, California and UCLA and he began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal State San Bernadino. 

 

Grand Canyon finished the spring ranked 25th in the final United Soccer Coaches Top 25 and 21st in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25. The Lopes were also 17th in the final regular season College Soccer News Top 30. Air Force was receiving votes in the USC Top 25 and the CSN Top 30.

 

On Selection Monday, the WAC had six teams in the top 100. Grand Canyon, who earned an at-large bid, led the WAC at 11 and tournament champion Air Force came in at 39th. San José State finished 46th followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in 56th, California Baptist in 68th and Seattle U in 83rd.

 

Grand Canyon is the top WAC program in the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Rankings, coming in at fourth. UT Rio Grande Valley is fifth, followed by San José State in sixth, California Baptist in seventh, Seattle U in eighth and Air Force 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.