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WAC Tournament Central   |   UVU Tournament Notes

SEATTLE -- Set to open its first WAC Tournament, the No. 3-seeded Utah Valley University men's soccer team will face Bakersfield, the No. 6 seed, on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. PT at Championship Field in Seattle. The quarterfinal match will air live on the WAC Digital Network at wacsports.com/watch.

The Wolverines (9-6-2) enter Thursday's contest on a three-match winning streak and are also unbeaten in their last four. The winner will move on to face No. 2 Seattle U, the tournament host, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. PT in one of two tournament semifinal matches.  

"The boys will approach the WAC Tournament as we approached the regular season — one game at a time," said UVU head coach Greg Maas. "Bakersfield is a solid side and we'll need another complete performance from front to back to earn the right to advance."

Utah Valley's current win streak includes a 3-1 victory at Bakersfield last Friday. In that match, Skyler Milne, Karson Payton and Lucas Cawley each scored goals for the Wolverines. Payton's goal, which went as the game-winner, helped the freshman forward earn WAC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

UVU closed out the regular season with a 1-0 shutout at San José State on Sunday, improving its WAC-leading goals against average to 0.73, which also ranks 19th in the country. Matt Gay scored the game's only goal, with Payton assisting, and Derek Wilcox recording six saves to earn the shutout.

As a defense, the Wolverines are also eighth nationally with an .847 save percentage while freshman goalkeeper Collin Partee ranks 12th in the country in save percentage (.833) and 35th in goals against average (0.798). Gay is among the national leaders (41st) and tied for the league lead with three game-winning goals of the seven he's scored this season.

Bakersfield earned the final spot in the WAC tournament after earning a draw against Seattle U on Sunday to finish a point in front of Air Force in the league table. The Roadrunners (9-7-3) also helped UNLV to an outright regular season title as a Seattle win would have given the Redhawks a share of the championship. CSUB freshman Julian Zamora leads all WAC players with 10 goals and 21 points on the year.

The opposite side of the bracket pits No. 4 Missouri-Kansas City against No. 5 San José State in the tournament's first match on Thursday afternoon. The winner of that match draws regular season champion UNLV in Friday's first semifinal.