2023 WAC men's soccer tournament

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+
WAC men's soccer tournament
«2022	2024»

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.

2023 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
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


‡ – 2023 WAC tournament Champion + – At-large invitation to the 2023 NCAA tournament # – Ineligible (In transition) As of December 12, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: WAC

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	Nico Lopez 19', 74', 107', 107' Cesar Carbajal 73' Tyler Ware 93'	Report	31' Alejandro Silva 45' Omar Yehya 62', 73' Tom Dobek-Pietrowski 73' Abel Mendoza 100' Alex Fritcher	Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 500

November 5	#3 Utah Tech	1–0	#6 San Jose State	Las Vegas, NV
4:00 p.m. PT	Damian Arguello 8' Justin Wallace 26' AJ Ciampini 59'	Report	50' Joel Garcia Jr. 63' David Sweeney 76' Josh Lucas 78' Beau Leroux	Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 175 Referee: Omeed Azadpour Assistant referees: Zachary Blanchard Assistant referees: 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	Mo Mohamed 26' Habib Famuditimi 120'	Report	21' Hermann Ragnarsson 61' Louis Hiepen 110' (pen.) Gabe Sanchez	Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 383 Referee: Omeed Azadpour Assistant referees: Marvo Vivero Assistant referees: Bob Escalera

November 8	#2 California Baptist	2–0	#3 Utah Tech	Las Vegas, NV
7:00 p.m. PT	Georg Bjarnason 13' Luis Mueller 17' Adolfo Pino 58' Antonio Gomez 79' Anthony Vargas 80' Thomas Beecham 90'	Report	79' Bubu Medina 79' AJ Ciampini 85' Anthony Godinez	Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 383 Referee: Arturo Ibarra Assistant referees: Kosta Makris Assistant referees: Nich Weyrauch Fourth official: Cory Mann

Final

November 11	#2 California Baptist	2–1	#4 UNLV	Las Vegas, NV
1:00 p.m. PT	Lucas Mueller 19', 82', 64' Erik Krohnstad 28' Thomas Beecham 43'	Report	51' Théo Minard 61' Nico Lopez 64' Cesar Carbajal	Stadium: Johann Field Attendance: 590 Referee: Joe Pickens Assistant referees: Cameron Blanchard Assistant referees: 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.

[1] Pope, Dennis (November 13, 2022). "California Baptist University men's soccer team captures WAC tournament title". The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved July 22, 2023.

[2] Western Athletic Conference. "2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament". Retrieved February 16, 2024.

[3] 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.

[4] Western Athletic Conference. "2023 Men's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved February 16, 2024.

[5] "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.

[6] "2023 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament" (PDF). wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. October 30, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.

[7] "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.

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