United Athletic Conference

Air Force's Thaddaeus Dewing and Grand Canyon's Esai Easley been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for September 6 through September 12.

 

Dewing, a sophomore forward from Colorado Springs, Colo., scored twice to help the Falcons go 1-0-1 in their home openers. On Friday against Cal State Fullerton, he scored his first goal of the season in the 63rd minute to put the Falcons up 3-0 before the Titans stormed back to earn a draw. On Sunday, Dewing scored the equalizer in the 26th minute and the Falcons added four more to blow past Evansville, 5-1. 

 

Easley, a senior defender from Kona, Hawai'i, stepped up big for the Lopes, playing every minute in wins at 22nd-ranked Oregon State and at home against perennial-power Saint Mary's. Against the Beavers, he played all 90 minutes as GCU kept the Beavers scoreless. He followed that up with 90 more minutes of shutout soccer against the Gaels in front of over 5,000 of his closest friends, adding the game-winning goal in the 16th minute to help the Lopes move to 4-1-0 on the young season.

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Tete Vacas had a hand in both goals on Thursday, assisting on the equalizer and then scoring the overtime winner in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside …  Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen scored the winning goal against 22nd-ranked Oregon State, converting on a penalty kick in the 89th minute for a 1-0 victory … Houston Baptist's Luis Poblacion scored once and assisted on two more scores in the Huskies' 6-0 win over Huston-Tillotson … UNLV's Aedon Kyra scored in each of the Rebels' matches on the week, scoring the game-winning goal on Friday at Sacramento State before adding UNLV's lone goal in a 2-1 loss at Pacific on Sunday night … Seattle U's James Morris assisted on the game winning goal at 24th-ranked Duke and then scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Sunday against Dartmouth … UT Rio Grande Valley's Yusuf Cueceoglu scored twice on the week, notching a score each in a 3-1 win at Florida Atlantic and a 2-1 loss at 13th-ranked Florida International … Utah Valley's Aaron Nixon scored his second game-winning goal of the season in a 2-1 win at Bradley on Sunday.

 

Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Giuliano Daniel led the Falcons to a 1-0-1 week at home with a draw against Cal State Fullerton and a 5-1 win against Evansville … Houston Baptist's Gustavo Otero recorded the clean sheet in Friday's 6-0 win over Huston-Tillotson and then made seven saves in a 2-0 loss to Oral Roberts … San José State's Eric Waltz led the Spartans to a road draw at 20th-ranked Stanford, making a career-high seven saves against the Cardinal ... Seattle U's Alex Acton-Petronotis helped the Redhawks' go 2-1 on the week, including scoring the game-winning goal in overtime at Duke after anchoring the backline that kept the 24th-ranked Blue Devils scoreless … Utah Valley's Carter Johnson played all 200 minutes on UVU's back line during its Illinois road-trip, earning a scoreless draw at Northwestern before earning a 2-1 win at Bradley.

 

While the schedule looks light as teams prep for the conference portion of the season, there are still some big games around the WAC. Utah Valley will look to stay unbeaten on the fall when they host third-ranked Washington on Thursday night. At about the same time, 25th-ranked Grand Canyon will head to Cal Poly for a matchup with the Big West's first-place team. On Friday, Air Force hosts rival Denver and Seattle U heads to PNW-rival Portland. The Redhawks will then head back north to prepare for their annual Emerald City Derby at home against Washington.

 

As a team, Seattle U is the leader in shots (80), saves (27) and are tied with three other teams (Chicago State, Grand Canyon and Houston Baptist) for the lead in shutouts (2). UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in points (37), goals (14) and goals per game (2.33) while Utah Valley holds the lead in assists (12), assists per game (2.40), goals against average (0.73) and are tied with Grand Canyon for the lead in goals allowed (4).

 

Individually, UTRGV's Reshaun Walkes is the leader in shots (17), points (15), points per game (2.50), goals (6) and goals per game (1.00). GCU's Justin Rasmussen is the leader in shots per game (3.20) and is one of six players with three assists while he is also tied with AFA's Guilano Daniel and UVU's Jojea Kwizera for the lead in assists per game (0.60). In net, CBU's Evan Ince is the leader in goals against average (0.49) and save percentage (.889) while SU's Akili Kasim is the leader in saves (27) and is tied with GCU's Rafael Guerrero and CSU's Joe Bowles for the lead in shutouts (2).

 

Grand Canyon set a new NCAA seasonal high for attendance on Sep. 10 when 5,018 fans packed themselves into GCU Stadium and were treated to a 1-0 Lopes win over Saint Mary's. Not to be outdone, Utah Valley ranks sixth nationally in average attendance at 2,309 while GCU is ninth at 1,986.

 

Fresh off a home win against Saint Mary's on Friday night, Grand Canyon moved back into the United Soccer Coaches' Top 25, taking the final spot. The Lopes are also ranked 21st in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 26th in the College Soccer News Top 30. Seattle U is among those teams receiving votes in the Coaches' Top 25.

 

In the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional Ranking, Grand Canyon is the top WAC school, moving six spots up to fourth. California Baptist is one spot back at five, followed by Utah Valley in seventh and Seattle U in eighth. Washington, who plays at Utah Valley on Thursday and at Seattle U on Monday, is the top ranked school in the region.

 

Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Lopes received six of 12 first-place votes to finish with 110 points for the preseason nod. Seattle U was just two points back, picking up four first-place votes to tally 108 points. San José State grabbed the final two first place votes to finish third with 94 points. Air Force was fourth with 89 points, followed closely by UT Rio Grande Valley in fifth with 86 points. California Baptist was sixth with 76 points, UNLV was seventh with 68 points and Utah Valley was eighth with 55 points. UIW was ninth, followed by Dixie State and Houston Baptist in a tie for 10th and Chicago State rounding out the poll in 12th. 

 

Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen and Esai Easley 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.

 

Rasmussen and Easley were joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by teammate Maximilian Moeller. San José State also had three honored with Willy Miranda, Max Allen and Carlos Gomez Zavala earning recognition. Seattle U was represented by Noe Meza and Akili Kasim. Also earning recognition were Air Force's London Aghedo, California Baptist's Thomas Beecham and UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes.

 

The WAC will have some strong competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule with seven matches scheduled against participants from last spring's NCAA Tournament. Grand Canyon and Seattle U have two each with both the Lopes and Redhawks scheduled to play both Washington and Oregon State. Air Force is also scheduled to take on Oregon State while Utah Valley will host Washington. Finally, San José State will take on nearby-rival Stanford.

 

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. 

 

Current Seattle Sounders FC and former Seattle U defender Alex Roldan was voted by fans as an MLS All-Star and joined his brother Cristian on Aug. 25 as the best of the MLS take on the best of Liga MX at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The MLS bested Liga MX in penalty kicks, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw with Alex playing the entire first half at right back.

 

The 2021 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament will feature the top six teams on November 10, 12, 14 at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals.