Regular season concludes on the road

Thursday, October 19

Abilene, Texas

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Abilene Christian

Photo by: Jack Gilday

10/18/2023 3:48:00 PM | Women's Soccer

WAC Tournament seeding on the line in final week

By: Jerob Moon


Grand Canyon Lopes (10-4-3, 4-1-2 WAC)	vs.	Abilene Christian Wildcats (7-8-1, 2-5 WAC)	Tarleton Texans (4-10-3, 1-5-1 WAC)
		Thursday, Oct. 12 5 p.m. (Phoenix time)	Sunday, Oct. 15 11 a.m. (Phoenix time)
Match Notes		Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats

The Grand Canyon women's soccer team will wrap up the regular season with matches at Abilene Christian and Tarleton on Thursday and Sunday, respectively.

Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

WAC TOURNAMENT SEEDING: The conference standings remain tight as the final weekend of the regular season approaches. GCU currently sits in third with 14 conference points just behind California Baptist in second at 15 and Utah Valley in first with 17 points. Trailing the Lopes are Utah Tech and Seattle U with 13 points and Southern Utah at 10. GCU has an outside chance at the regular season title but they would need two UVU losses and a CBU loss and draw while also winning out. CBU and GCU are just separated by a point so the Lopes could leapfrog into second and earn a first round bye, if the Lancers either draw or lose one of the final two matches while the Lopes win both. If GCU finishes third they will face the No. 6 seed in the first round of the WAC Tournament on Oct. 29. All six seeds are undetermined heading into Thursday's matches.
GOURLEY NEARS RECORD: Senior forward Gianna Gourley put on a show for the fans in her final two GCU home matches last week. With four goals and nine total points in two wins over UT Rio Grande Valley and Stephen F. Austin, Gourley earned her second WAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. The Las Vegas native also tied her own regular season goal record with 18 and is just two points away from breaking her own points record set last season. Gourley also hit the 50-career goal milestone against UTRGV to become the nation's active Division I goal scoring leader.
GANIEF BECOMES GOAL SCORER: Gourley and the GCU offense had a boost from defender Aleisha Ganief and her four goals in the two home wins last week. The GCU junior defender had not scored a goal in her previous 57 career appearances before scoring a pair of goals against both UTRGV and SFA. All four goals came off corner kicks.

SCOUTING

Abilene Christian is on the outside looking in at the final WAC Tournament spot currently sitting at six points, four behind Southern Utah. The Wildcats have an outside chance of making the conference tourney but will need two wins over GCU and CBU at home along with help. The Wildcats started the season unbeaten in the first five matches but have gone just 3-8 since then including a 2-5 mark in WAC play. Junior Chayse Thorn has been the offensive leader all season with 13 goals and 28 points both top-five marks in the WAC. Defensively sophomore goalie Lili Ross has struggled in her last three starts allowing three goals in each of those matches.

Tarleton has amassed a 4-10-3 record in just their second season as a program. The Texans have struggled on the road this season with a 1-6-1 record but return home for the final week of the regular season hosting CBU on Thursday and GCU on Sunday. Tarleton has spread out the scoring this season with sophomore defender Rylee Low leading the team with four goals on just 10 shots. Goalkeeper Mikayla Kendall leads the WAC with 111 saves this year and has faced at least 20 shots in three of the last four matches.