With the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) at its end, the Seattle University men’s soccer team keeps pushing forward as they proceed to take on teams within the WAC Tournament beginning this weekend at Utah Valley.
Sergio Rivas No. 7 moving the ball up the field.
The Redhawks end their regular season play 11-5-2 overall and 7-1-2 in the WAC. Second on the leaderboard for the WAC, right behind Utah Valley, Seattle U will proceed onto the WAC Tournament with a second seed slot. The team’s performance moving forward will determine their eligibility to participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament.
This weekend marked the final regular season game for the Seattle U Redhawks, against Air Force Academy at Air Force. However, despite being undefeated throughout the WAC, the team fell to a 1-0 loss. Assuredly, the Redhawks did not go down without a fight. The team out-shot Air Force throughout the entirety of the game, holding a 16-12 margin. The team also had eight attempted corner kicks compared to Air Force’s six.
The Redhawks started off strong, managing to keep the Falcons off the board for the majority of the first half. Playing hard, senior goalkeeper Jordan Hadden had three saves within first half and one in the second half. Unfortunately, the Air Force Falcons took the board during the 36th minute with a chip shot eight yards out by Falcon Tucker Bone over goalie Hadden. The Redhawks’ determination never swayed as they came out with 3 more shots in the remainder of the first half.
The Redhawks tightened up their defense during the second half— assuming a diamond formation and only allowing three opposing shots to be taken, compared to the Redhawks’ 10. The team fought hard and strong pushing to get the tying goal. Unfortunately, the team never managed to put one in the net. The Falcons goalkeeper John Wendt had four key saves in the second half, blocking shots from Redhawks senior Jeff Rose, sophomore Sergio Rivas, junior Alex Roldan and junior Isidro Prado-Huerta.
“One strength [that the game had] was that we were able to put players in new positions…and they did very well. The loss is very tough, obviously, [and] we are held to very high expectations this year-that being said, we are looking forward to the WAC tournament…we are itching to get back on to the pitch and win” senior Jordan Hadden stated after Saturday’s game.
Despite the tough loss, the team will continue to charge headstrong into the WAC Tournament this week beginning on Thurs., Nov. 10. The team has received a first round by as a result of their standing in the WAC. After being crowned WAC champions last year the team has high expectations set for themselves, looking to make it back to the NCAA Tournament. The date and time of the first match are to be determined based upon other teams’ performances.
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