Championship match awaits GCU

Sunday, November 11

Seattle, Wash.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

San José State

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Photo by: Joe Whiteside/WAC

11/10/2018 6:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GCU Match Notes Photo Gallery 2018 Media Guide

GCU, San José State meet with NCAA bid on line

By: Josh Hauser


(6) San José State Spartans (8-9-3, 5-5-1 WAC)	vs.	(4) Grand Canyon Lopes (11-8, 6-4 WAC)
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With a bid to the NCAA tournament on the line, the Grand Canyon men's soccer team will meet up with San José State in the WAC Tournament final on Sunday at Seattle U's Championship Field. The fourth-seeded Lopes and sixth-seeded Spartans will kick off at 2 p.m. (Phoenix time).

GCU is making its first WAC Tournament final appearance, while San José State is making its second consecutive appearance.

The game will be available on the WAC Digital Network and WACDigitalNetwork.com or by searching for WAC on your TV streaming device (Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire).

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

IT'S A STREAK: The Lopes have won five consecutive games for the first time in the program's Division I history. GCU last won five in a row in its final year as a Division II team in 2012. The past two wins were shutout victories that ran GCU's shutout win total to eight on the season.
TASOURIS IMPRESSES: Freshman goalkeeper George Tasouris set a season high of nine saves in each of the past two matches, a pair of shutout Lopes wins. Tasouris and the defense helped the Lopes open the WAC Tournament with 1-0 wins over Utah Valley and Air Force.
SUCCESS AS THE UNDERDOG: With Friday's win, the Lopes improved to 5-0 against top-25 teams this season. GCU defeated No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 20 Creighton, No. 25 Seattle U, and Air Force on two occasions (as a No. 8 and a No. 13). GCU had not recorded a top-25 victory in its five previous Division I seasons.

SCOUTING

San José State makes its second consecutive appearance in the WAC Tournament final, falling last year to Seattle U 2-1 in Las Vegas. The Spartans pulled off upsets over No. 3 Seattle U and No. 2 UT Rio Grande Valley to reach this year's final.

San José State ranks 15th in the country in most yellow cards awarded at 37 on the season. Like the Lopes, the Spartans rank highly in saves per match, coming in at 19th nationally with 5.0 saves per game.

San José State won regular-season conference matchups against CSU Bakersfield, GCU, UNLV, Utah Valley and Incarnate Word while falling to Kansas City, California Baptist, Air Force and UT Rio Grande Valley. SJSU drew with Houston Baptist. The Spartans began the season strong with a scoreless tie against reigning national champion Stanford on the road.

When the two teams met in regular-season action, GCU allowed a late goal and fell at San José State 1-0 on Oct. 5. The Spartans intercepted a pass in their defensive third and scored on the ensuing counter-attack.

LAST TIME OUT

Sophomore Marco Afonso scored a goal in the seventh minute to put GCU up 1-0 in early action.
Tasouris and the Lopes' defense held the nation's second-leading scoring offense without a goal for the second time this year. Tasouris made nine saves.