United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's Bryan Iliohan and Grand Canyon's Rafael Guerrero been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for September 20 through September 26.

 

Iliohan, a junior forward from Nieuw-Wennep, North Holland, Netherlands, made scoring a habit this week, netting five total goals in a pair of road matches. On Monday afternoon, he scored twice in the Lancers' 4-1 win over St. Thomas (Minn.). He then followed that up with a hat trick in Las Vegas, scoring all three CBU goals in a 3-1 win over UNLV on Saturday night. 

 

Guerrero, a freshman goalkeeper from Tucson, Ariz., was the hero of the match against Seattle U, making eight saves to secure his third shutout in four games. His final save was costly as he collided with an oncoming Seattle U player and had to be transported to a local hospital by ambulance but he was awake and talking about the game on Saturday night as GCU announced on Sunday that his condition has improved. His three shutouts lead the WAC this season and he is among the top three in both save percentage and goals-against average.

 

Other offensive nominees: Air Force's Tristan Trager had the game-winning goal in the Falcon's WAC-opening 2-0 win over San José State … Grand Canyon's Georg Bjarnason scored his first career goal right before halftime as the 19th-ranked Lopes defeated Seattle U, 1-0 … San José State's Willy Miranda led the Spartans with three shots in a 2-0 loss at Air Force … UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes assisted on the first goal and then scored the second goal as UTRGV defeated Chicago State, 2-0 … Utah Valley's Evans Armah earned his first career brace with a pair of second half goals in a 2-1 win at Dixie State.

 

Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Kainoa Likewise made two saves to earn the shutout win over San José State in the Falcons' WAC opener … Chicago State's Shaquan Reid led the Cougar defense into their first ever WAC match against UT Rio Grande Valley, falling 2-0 … UT Rio Grande Valley's Oliver Padilla made the only save he needed to make to secure the 2-0 shutout win at Chicago State … Utah Valley's Mateo Palomino helped limit Dixie State to just three shots in the Wolverines' 2-1 win. 

 

As the calendar turns to October, the WAC schedule kicks into full gear this week. 20th-ranked Grand Canyon hits the road for the first time in league play, traveling to Houston Baptist and Chicago State. Air Force will also make the trip to CSU and HBU. Utah Valley and California Baptist each head to Texas, traveling to UT Rio Grande Valley and UIW. The final pairings match UNLV and Dixie State hitting the road to play at Seattle U and San José State.

 

As a team, Seattle U is the leader in shots (129) and corners (6.22) while California Baptist holds the lead in points (46) and goals (17). UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in goals per game (2.29) and Utah Valley and UNLV are tied for the lead in assists (15) while UVU holds the edge in assists per game (2.14). Grand Canyon leads the league in least goals allowed (6), goals against average (0.85) and shutouts (3). Chicago State has the most saves (37).

 

Individually, SU's Declan McGlynn is the leader in shots (24) and GCU's Justin Rasmussen and UTRGV's Reshaun Walkes have the lead in shots per game (3.14). Walkes is also the leader in points (18), points per game (2.57), goals per game (1.00) and he is tied with CBU's Bryan Iliohan for the lead in total goals (7) and is tied with five others for the lead in assists (4). 

 

In goal, CBU's Evan Ince is the leader in goals against average (0.59) and save percentage (.900). CSU's Joe Bowles is tops in saves (37) while GCU's Rafael Guerrero holds the lead in saves per game (5.00), shutouts (3) and shutouts per game (0.50).

 

Grand Canyon briefly held the NCAA seasonal high for attendance when 5,018 fans packed themselves into GCU Stadium on Sep. 10 and were treated to a 1-0 Lopes win over Saint Mary's. Not to be outdone, Utah Valley ranks eighth nationally in average attendance at 2,366 while GCU is 10th at 1,994.

 

Grand Canyon sits 20th in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25. The Lopes are also 17th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 23rd in the College Soccer News Top 30.

 

In the latest United Soccer Coaches Far West Regional Ranking, three WAC schools hold spots. Grand Canyon is the top ranked team, dropping one spot to fourth. California Baptist is fifth followed by Utah Valley in seventh.

 

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.