2018 WAC men's soccer tournament

The 2018 WAC men's soccer tournament was the 11th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.

2018 WAC men's soccer tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	7
Matches	6
Attendance	1,066
Site	Championship Field Seattle, Washington
Champions	Grand Canyon (1st title)
Winning coach	Schellas Hyndman (1st title)
MVP	George Tasouris (Grand Canyon)
Broadcast	WAC Digital Network
WAC men's soccer tournament «2017  2019»

2018 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 12 Air Force +	8	–	2	–	0			17	–	5	–	0
UTRGV	8	–	3	–	0			14	–	6	–	0
Seattle	7	–	4	–	0			13	–	6	–	1
Grand Canyon ‡	6	–	4	–	0			12	–	8	–	1
Utah Valley	6	–	4	–	0			9	–	9	–	0
UNLV	5	–	5	–	1			10	–	10	–	1
San Jose State	5	–	5	–	1			8	–	10	–	3
Cal Baptist ^#	5	–	6	–	0			9	–	9	–	1
UMKC	4	–	7	–	0			5	–	12	–	0
Houston Baptist	3	–	6	–	1			5	–	8	–	3
Cal St. Bakersfield	3	–	7	–	1			5	–	12	–	1
Incarnate Word	2	–	9	–	0			2	–	14	–	1
‡-Tournament Champion + - Invited to the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship ^#-Ineligible (In transition) As of December 11, 2018 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches

The defending champions were Seattle U. However, they were unable to defend their title, falling 5–6 in a penalty shootout against San Jose State in the semifinals. The eventual champions were the Grand Canyon Antelopes, who won the tournament after a 1–0 victory over San Jose State in the final.^[1] This was the first WAC men's soccer title for Grand Canyon, and the first for coach Schellas Hyndman.^[2]

Background

Main articles: 2018 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer season and 2017 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament

Seattle U won their third WAC title, defeating San Jose State, 2–1 in the championship game. With the win, Seattle U surpassed UNLV and Fresno State with the most WAC Tournament titles. With the berth, Seattle U earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. There, they upset city-rivals,^[3] Washington, in the first round,^[4][5] before falling to Akron in the second round.^[6][7]

Seeding

The top seven teams will qualify for the tournament.^[8]

Seed	School	Conf. Record	Points
1	Air Force	8–0–2	26
2	UTRGV	6–1–3	21
3	Seattle U	7–3–0	21
4	Grand Canyon	5–4–1	16
5	Utah Valley	4–4–2	14
6	San Jose State	4–5–1	13
7	UNLV	4–5–1	13

Bracket

	First round Nov. 7					Semifinals Nov. 9					Championship Nov. 11
						1	Air Force	0
						4	Grand Canyon	1
	4	Grand Canyon (OT)	1
	5	Utah Valley	0
											4	Grand Canyon	1
											6	San Jose State	0
	2	UTRGV	4
	7	UNLV	1
						2	UTRGV	0
						6	San Jose State	1
	3	Seattle U	3 (5)
	6	San Jose State (pen.)	3 (6)

Schedule

Quarterfinals

November 7

2:00 PM PST

No. 4 Grand Canyon	1–0 (a.e.t.)	No. 5 Utah Valley
Gardner   96'	Report

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Referee: Leland Grant

---

November 7

5:00 PM PST

No. 2 UTRGV	4–1	No. 7 UNLV
Edwards   24' Dalusma   41', 84' Akio   57'	Report	Kurtz   11'

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Referee: Turan Ozdemir

---

November 7

8:00 PM PST

No. 3 Seattle U	3–3 (a.e.t.)	No. 6 San Jose State
Meza   18' Westra   35' Noblat   46'	Report	Partida   74' Saylee   75' Penner   87'
Penalties
Avila-Good   Hamish   Meza   Ayala   Uderitz   Buchanan   Landeros   Noblat	5–6	Allen   Rios   Kay   Khorami   Miranda   Partida   Castillo   Lemus

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 588

Referee: Joe Pickens

Semifinals

November 9

5:00 PM PST

No. 1 Air Force	0–1	No. 4 Grand Canyon
	Report	Afonso   6'

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Referee: Turan Ozdemir

---

November 9

7:00 PM PST

No. 2 UTRGV	0–1	No. 6 San Jose State
	Report	Lemus   79'

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 276

Referee: Leland Grand

Final

November 11

1:00 PM PST

No. 4 Grand Canyon	1–0	No. 6 San Jose State
Radilla   23'	Report

Championship Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 202

Referee: Matthew Buckman

Statistics

Goalscorers

2 Goals

• Rooby Dalusma - UTRGV

1 Goal

• Marco Afonso - Grand Canyon
• William Akio - UTRGV
• Kyle Edwards - UTRGV
• Sam Gardner - Grand Canyon
• Bay Kurtz - UNLV
• Omar Lemus - San Jose State
• Noe Meza - Seattle U
• Connor Noblat - Seattle U
• Jonathan Partida - San Jose State
• Zach Penner - San Jose State
• Alex Radilla - Grand Canyon
• Eddie Saylee - San Jose State
• Kees Westra - Seattle U

All Tournament Team

2018 WAC Men's Soccer All-Tournament team^[1]

Marco Afonso, Grand Canyon Max Allen, San Jose State Rooby Dalusma, UT Rio Grande Valley Kyle Edwards, UT Rio Grande Valley Sam Gardner, Grand Canyon Omer Lemus, San Jose State Connor Noblat, Seattle U Alex Radilla, Grand Canyon Andy Rios, San Jose State Sergio Rivas, Seattle U George Tasouris, Grand Canyon

MVP in Bold

References

1. "2018 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament". wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
2. "2018 Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
3. Hanson, Scott (November 17, 2017). "Seattle U ousts Washington from NCAA soccer tournament in overtime". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
4. Mondello, Joseph (November 24, 2017). "Sounders on Campus: Academy products compete in NCAA Tournament". Seattle Sounders FC. Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
5. Hoffman, Jeff. "Huskies lose overtime thriller to Seattle U in NCAA Tournament opener". KHQ-TV. Cowles Company. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
6. Beaven, Michael (November 19, 2017). "Akron 3, Seattle 0: Zips cruise to second-round win". Akron Beacon Journal. Black Press. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
7. Newblom, Michelle (November 29, 2017). "Seattle U Soccer Season Ends in Second Round of NCAA Tournament". The Spectator. Seattle University. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
8. . Western Athletic Conference. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.

External links

• 2018 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament