GCU, Air Force meet in semis

Friday, November 9

Seattle, Wash.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Air Force

Photo by: Joe Whiteside

11/8/2018 12:19:00 PM | Men's Soccer

GCU Match Notes 2018 Media Guide

Lopes look to extend 4-game win streak

By: Josh Hauser


(1) Air Force Falcons (14-3, 7-2 WAC)	vs.	(4) Grand Canyon Lopes (10-8, 6-4 WAC)
~~Match Notes~~	Live Video Live Stats T ickets	Match Notes Media Guide

The Grand Canyon men's soccer team takes a four-game win streak into the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. The Lopes are set for a rematch with No. 13 Air Force, the tourney's top seed, on Friday at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time).

The winner of this semifinal matchup will advance to the WAC championship match on Sunday afternoon.

The game will be available on the WAC Digital Network, available at 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 four consecutive games for the first time in the program's Division I history. GCU last won four in a row in its final year as a Division II team in 2012.
SHUTOUT SQUAD, CONTINUED: GCU has seven shutout wins to its credit this season, nearly doubling the program's D-I record for shutout wins (previously four in 2017). It's the most in a season for the program since also recording seven in 2011.
STINGY DEFENSE: GCU has allowed less than two goals in its last five matches. The Lopes, behind freshman goalkeeper George Tasouris and a staunch backline, have recorded seven shutouts on the season, also a Division I program record. As a team, the Lopes rank in the top 35 nationally for goals against average (0.87).

SCOUTING

Air Force has continued a three-year stretch of dominance in which it has won at least 14 games each season. The Falcons knocked off a pair of ranked teams in No. 13 Colgate on Sept. 9 and No. 22 San Francisco on Sept. 14. Besides losing at GCU on Oct. 28, Air Force's only other losses of the season season came in the opener at Virginia Tech and an upset by CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 5.

Seniors Austin Dewing and Tucker Bone account for much of the Air Force offense, tallying 11 and 10 goals, respectively.

The Lopes and Falcons last met two weeks ago at GCU Stadium with the Lopes claiming a 1-0 win on a Jackson Jellah goal.

LAST TIME OUT

Sam Gardner scored a golden goal off a set piece on the feed from Alex Radilla and header from Esai Easley. GCU won 1-0 in overtime for its first WAC Tournament win.

WHAT'S NEXT

The winner of Friday's match advances to Sunday's WAC Tournament championship game against the winner of No. 2 UT Rio Grande Valley and No. 6 San José State with an automatic NCAA tourney bid on the line.

For more GCU men's soccer news, notes and numbers, click here to view the match notes and click here to view the media guide.