2022 WAC men's soccer tournament
The 2022 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament was the postseason men's soccer tournament for the Western Athletic Conference held from November 9 to November 13, 2022. The five-match tournament took place at CBU Soccer Field in Riverside, California on the campus of California Baptist University. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular-season divisional conference play. The defending champions were the Seattle Redhawks.[1] Seattle was unable to defend their crown, falling 4–0 to San Jose State in the Semifinals. California Baptist went on to win the title in a penalty shoot-out against San Jose State.[2] This was California Baptist's first WAC Tournament victory in program history and first for head coach Coe Michaelson.[3] As tournament champions, California Baptist earned the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
| 2022 WAC men's soccer tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | Division I | ||||
| Teams | 6 | ||||
| Matches | 5 | ||||
| Attendance | 3,911 | ||||
| Site | CBU Soccer Field Riverside, California | ||||
| Champions | California Baptist (1st title) | ||||
| Winning coach | Coe Michaelson (1st title) | ||||
| MVP | Nolan Premack (California Baptist) | ||||
| Broadcast | ESPN+ | ||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Air Force | 7 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 8 | – | 6 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Jose State | 5 | – | 2 | – | 2 | 10 | – | 5 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 10 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah Valley | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 8 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| California Baptist† | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 | 10 | – | 7 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grand Canyon | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 | 7 | – | 8 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas–Rio Grande Valley | 4 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 7 | – | 7 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Utah Tech # | 2 | – | 5 | – | 2 | 4 | – | 12 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Houston Christian | 1 | – | 5 | – | 3 | 5 | – | 8 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UNLV | 0 | – | 6 | – | 3 | 1 | – | 9 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: WAC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding
Six of the ten Western Athletic Conference men's soccer programs qualified for the 2022 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 third and fourth seeds as both Seattle and Utah Valley finished with identical 5–4–0 records during the regular season. Seattle earned the third seed by virtue of their 1–0 victory over Utah Valley on October 21 during the regular season. A second tiebreaker was required to determine the fifth and sixth seeds after California Baptist and Grand Canyon finished with identical 4–3–2 regular season records. The two teams tied their regular season match, 0–0 on October 9. California Baptist earned the fifth seed while Grand Canyon was the sixth seed.[4]
| Seed | School | Conference Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Force | 7–1–1 | 22 |
| 2 | San Jose State | 5–2–2 | 17 |
| 3 | Seattle | 5–4–0 | 15 |
| 4 | Utah Valley | 5–4–0 | 15 |
| 5 | California Baptist | 4–3–2 | 14 |
| 6 | Grand Canyon | 4–3–2 | 14 |
Bracket
| First round Wednesday, Nov. 9 | Semifinals Friday, Nov. 11 | Final Sunday, Nov. 13 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Air Force | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Utah Valley | 1 | 5 | California Baptist | 2 | |||||||||
| 5 | California Baptist | 3 | 5 | California Baptist (pen.) | 0 (3) | |||||||||
| 2 | San Jose State | 0 (1) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | San Jose State | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Seattle | 2 | 3 | Seattle | 0 | |||||||||
| 6 | Grand Canyon | 1 | ||||||||||||
Schedule
First round
| November 9 | #3 Seattle | 2–1 | #6 Grand Canyon | Riverside, CA |
| 4:00 p.m. PT |
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Report |
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Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 117 |
| November 9 | #4 Utah Valley | 1–3 | #5 California Baptist | Riverside, CA |
| 7:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 953 |
Semifinals
| November 11 | #2 San Jose State | 4–0 | #3 Seattle | Riverside, CA |
| 1:00 p.m. PT |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 268 |
| November 11 | #1 Air Force | 0–2 | #5 California Baptist | Riverside, CA |
| 4:00 p.m. PT |
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Report |
|
Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 1,157 |
Final
| November 13 | #2 San Jose State | 0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–3 p) | #5 California Baptist | Riverside, CA |
| 1:00 p.m. PT |
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Report |
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Stadium: CBU Soccer Field |
| Penalties | ||||
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Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 13 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 2.6 goals per match.
2 goals
- Leo Mendez – California Baptist
- Anthony Guzman – San Jose State
1 goal
- Bryan Iliohan – California Baptist
- Luis Mueller – California Baptist
- Adolfo Pino – California Baptist
- Shaun Joash – Grand Canyon
- Joel Garcia – San Jose State
- Ryota Nakashima – San Jose State
- Christian Kootnz – Seattle
- Campbell Strong – Seattle
- Aaron Nixon – Utah Valley
All-Tournament team
Source:[5]
| Player | Team |
|---|---|
| Thomas Beecham | California Baptist |
| Antonio Gomez | |
| Leo Mendez | |
| Nolan Premack | |
| Shaun Joash | Grand Canyon |
| Anthony Guzman | San Jose State |
| Kasper Poulsgaard | |
| Finlay Wood | |
| Peter Kingston | Seattle |
| Taketo Onodera |
MVP in bold
References
- Western Athletic Conference. "2021 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament". Retrieved March 5, 2022.
- 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. "2022 Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved July 22, 2023.
- "WACMSoc22Release12" (PDF). wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. November 8, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
- "No. 5 CBU Wins 2022 WAC Men's Soccer Championship". wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. November 13, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2023.