2023 WAC men's soccer tournament
| 2023 WAC men's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 6 | ||||
| Matches | 5 | ||||
| Attendance | 2,031 | ||||
| Site | Peter Johann Memorial Field Las Vegas, Nevada | ||||
| Champions | California Baptist (2nd title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Coe Michaelson (2nd title) | ||||
| MVP | Luis Mueller (California Baptist) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ | ||||
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| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 23 Seattle U + | 7 | – | 0 | – | 1 | 12 | – | 4 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California Baptist ‡ | 5 | – | 1 | – | 2 | 9 | – | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah Tech # | 4 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 9 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNLV | 3 | – | 3 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Jose State | 3 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 6 | – | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah Valley | 2 | – | 2 | – | 4 | 3 | – | 7 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Canyon | 2 | – | 4 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 7 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTRGV | 2 | – | 5 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 9 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Air Force | 1 | – | 6 | – | 1 | 1 | – | 14 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: WAC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2023 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Western Athletic Conference held from November 5 to November 11, 2023. The five-match tournament took place at Peter Johann Memorial Field in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of UNLV. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular-season divisional conference play. The defending champions were the California Baptist Lancers.[1] California Baptist was able to successfully defend their title as the second overall seed in the tournament.[2][3] This was California Baptist's second WAC Tournament victory in program history, both of which have come under head coach Coe Michaelson.[4] As tournament champions, California Baptist earned the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Seeding
Six of the nine Western Athletic Conference men's soccer programs qualified for the 2023 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on their regular season records. Tiebreakers were used to determine the seedings of teams who finished with identical conference records. A tiebreaker was required to determine the fifth and sixth seeds of the tournament as San Jose State and Utah Valley both finished with ten conference regular season points. The two teams tied their regular season match up 1–1. Utah Valley was the fifth seed and San Jose State was the sixth seed.[5]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle U | 7–0–1 | 22 |
| 2 | California Baptist | 5–1–2 | 17 |
| 3 | Utah Tech | 4–4–0 | 12 |
| 4 | UNLV | 3–3–2 | 11 |
| 5 | Utah Valley | 2–2–4 | 10 |
| 6 | San Jose State | 3–4–1 | 10 |
Bracket
Source:[6]
| First round Sunday, Nov. 5 | Semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 8 | Final Sunday, Nov. 11 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Seattle U | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | UNLV (a.e.t.) | 3 | 4 | UNLV (a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||
| 5 | Utah Valley | 2 | 4 | UNLV | 1 | |||||||||
| 2 | California Baptist | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | California Baptist | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Utah Tech | 1 | 3 | Utah Tech | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | San Jose State | 0 | ||||||||||||
Schedule
First round
| November 5 | #4 UNLV | 3–2 (a.e.t.) | #5 Utah Valley | Las Vegas, NV |
| 1:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 500 |
| November 5 | #3 Utah Tech | 1–0 | #6 San Jose State | Las Vegas, NV |
| 4:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 175 Referee: Omeed Azadpour Assistant referees: Zachary Blanchard Jose Moralez Fourth official: Nicolause Weyrauch |
Semifinals
| November 8 | #1 Seattle U | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | #4 UNLV | Las Vegas, NV |
| 4:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 383 Referee: Omeed Azadpour Assistant referees: Marvo Vivero Bob Escalera |
| November 8 | #2 California Baptist | 2–0 | #3 Utah Tech | Las Vegas, NV |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 383 Referee: Arturo Ibarra Assistant referees: Kosta Makris Nich Weyrauch Fourth official: Cory Mann |
Final
| November 11 | #2 California Baptist | 2–1 | #4 UNLV | Las Vegas, NV |
| 1:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 590 Referee: Joe Pickens Assistant referees: Cameron Blanchard Zachary Blanchard Fourth official: Killian Richardson |
Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 14 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 2.8 goals per match (as of November 11, 2023).
4 goals
- Nico Lopez – UNLV
3 goals
- Luis Mueller – California Baptist
2 goals
- Tom Dobek-Pietrowski – Utah Valley
1 goal
- Georg Bjarnason – California Baptist
- Mo Mohamed – Seattle U
- Hermann Ragnarsson – UNLV
- Gabe Sanchez – UNLV
- Justin Wallace – Utah Tech
All-Tournament team
Source:[7]
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Thomas Beecham | California Baptist |
| Leo Mendez | |
| Luis Mueller | |
| Nolan Premack | |
| Brophy Howard | UNLV |
| Nico Lopez | |
| Hermann Ragnarsson | |
| Gabe Sanchez | |
| Austin Wallace | Utah Tech |
| Tom Dobek-Pietrowski | Utah Valley |
| Mo Mohamed | Seattle U |
MVP in bold
References
- ^ Pope, Dennis (November 13, 2022). "California Baptist University men's soccer team captures WAC tournament title". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
- ^ Western Athletic Conference. "2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament". Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ Zeigler, Mark (November 16, 2023). "Cal Baptist ends USD's soccer season with penalty shootout win". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ Western Athletic Conference. "2023 Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "Seattle U Earns Top Seed In The 2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament". wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. October 30, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament" (PDF). wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. October 30, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ "No. 2 CBU Repeats With Thrilling 2-1 Win Over No. 4 UNLV In The 2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament Final". wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. November 11, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.