No. 17 Lopes host UIW, UTRGV


No. 17 Grand Canyon Lopes (8-1, 3-0 WAC)	vs	Incarnate Word Cardinals (2-5-2, 1-1-1 WAC)	UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (5-3, 2-0 WAC)
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The No. 17 Grand Canyon men's soccer team continues WAC play with Incarnate Word on Friday and UT Rio Grande Valley on Sunday at 7 p.m. Sunday's match will be Ted Lasso Night.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

CLIMBING THE POLLS: The Lopes defeated Houston Baptist and Chicago State on the road to improve their winning streak to six.
WIN STREAK CONTINUES: After defeating Houston Baptist and Chicago State on the road, the Lopes moved up from No. 20 to No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches poll.
TRIO TIED FOR SCORING LEAD: With four goals apiece, junior striker Shaun-Chris Joash, fifth-year midfielders Marco Afonso and Justin Rasmussen lead the Lopes in scoring. The trio combines for 12 of the 17 total goals made this season.

SCOUTING

Incarnate Word
The Cardinals (2-5-2, 1-1-1) are led by head coach Ricardo "Kiki" Lara, who is a three-time All-American, two-time Academic All-American and UIW Hall of Fame member. He enters his third season at UIW after spending the last five years at Eastern Illinois and the previous six seasons at Dayton. Bernabe Lopez and Eduardo "Edu" Perez each have two goals on the season. Lopez also leads the Cardinals with a total of five points and six shots on goal. Last season, the Cardinals finished 2-7, defeating UNLV and Houston Baptist. Goalkeeper Nils Roth ranks fifth in the WAC in saves (31) and is tied for third in shutouts (2).

UT Rio Grande Valley
The Vaqueros (5-3-, 2-0) are coached by Bryheem Hancock, who was named head coach on Nov. 24, 2020. Before UTRGV, Hancock coached at Radford for three seasons. Before Radford, he was an assistant coach at South Florida for eight seasons. Hancock played at UCONN, where he guided the Huskies to four NCAA tournament appearances, two Final Fours and the 2000 National Championship. UTRGV returns Reshaun Walkes, who is a preseason All-WAC selection and leads the team in goals (7), assists (4) and points (18). UTRGV finished as the WAC runner-up in the 2021 spring regular season behind the Lopes after compiling a 6-1-2 conference record. The Vaqueros currently lead the WAC with 2.25 goals per game. Yusuf Cueceoglu follows behind Walkes with four goals, three assists and 11 points. Cueceoglu is a graduate transfer from Portland. Before Portland, he played two seasons at Villanova. He also spent time with the Turkish Youth National Team from 2013-2015, appearing in 10 fixtures with Turkey, scoring goals against Canada and Portugal.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU vs. Houston Baptist

The Lopes defeated Houston Baptist 3-1 on the road.
Junior striker Shaun Joash scored the first goal of the game with an assist from Justin Rasmussen.
The Huskies tied the match 2:19 into the second half.
In the 77th minute, junior midfielder Alec LaBarge scored the first goal of his collegiate career, putting the Lopes ahead 2-1. The goal was assisted by freshman Kaden Cameron and fifth-year Rey Gaytan.
Less than two minutes later, fifth-year midfielder Tosh Yasuda scored his first goal of the season, giving the Lopes some insurance going into the final 12 minutes of the WAC contest.

GCU vs. Chicago State

The Lopes moved to 3-0 in conference play and won its sixth consecutive match after defeating Chicago State 3-1 on the road.
The Cougars scored first after drawing a foul in the GCU penalty box and converting on the penalty kick 12 minutes into the match.
In the 24th minute, Joash tied the match with a tap in off a cross by junior defender Rodolfo Prado.
Joash scored his second goal of the game and fourth goal of the season at the 77:35 mark.
Justin Rasmussen put the Lopes ahead 3-1 with a beautiful left-footed ball to the upper-left side of the goal.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Up next, the Lopes are back on the road to continue WAC play at San Jose State on Saturday, Oct. 16.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

LAST TIME OUT

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marco Afonso

Kaden Cameron

Rey Gaytan

Shaun Joash

Alec LaBarge

Rodolfo Prado

Justin Rasmussen

Tosh Yasuda

Grand Canyon University Athletics