No. 4 Utah Valley opens WAC Tournament play on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona, against the No. 5 seed San Jose State Spartans at GCU Soccer Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. MST, and the match will be streamed live on ESPN+. The WAC has tabbed Michael Potter as the play-by-play announcer and Paul Coro as the color commentator.
Utah Valley enters the tournament on a four-match unbeaten streak (3-0-1) that dates back to a 2-0 win over Air Force on Oct. 20. The Wolverines secured their spot in the WAC Tournament with a pair of dramatic wins in the final two games of the season.
Utah Valley beat Utah Tech 2-1 in the final home game on Oct. 28 when Zach Lifferth scored a 90th-minute winner with just 19 seconds left. Omar Yehya then scored 19 seconds into the game at CBU on Nov. 3 for what proved to be the game-winner in a 1-0 victory in Riverside.
Yehya has scored a team-best 12 goals and added 3 assists. As of Nov. 4, Yehya is tied for 7th in the nation in total goals, and is one of just 30 athletes nationally to have double-digit goals so far this season. On Friday, Yehya was named to the All-WAC first team.
Following the conclusion of WAC play, Yehya secured the WAC's Golden Boot for leading the league in goals this season. Yehya is the 2nd Wolverine to lead the WAC in goals, joining Blake Frischknecht who did it in 2019, and is the 1st to lead outright. Yehya is one goal away from tying and two away from breaking the UVU single-seasongoals record, held by Frischknecht.
Junior transfer midfielder Gilles Aurelien has proven to be an offensive weapon in his first season at the D-I level. Entering the week, the JUCO product leads the WAC in assists with 7.
Freshman midfielder Isaac Emojong was named to the WAC All-Freshman team. Last month, Emojong was named to TopDrawerSoccer's Freshman Top 100 list, coming in at No. 46. Emojong is 2nd among WAC freshmen with four goals so far this season.
SERIES HISTORY vs SJSU (3-7-2)
The Wolverines are winless in the last nine meetings against the Spartans, including a 3-2 loss at Clyde Field earlier this season. Utah Valley jumped out to a 2-0 lead before surrendering three unanswered goals.
DECISION DAY DRAMA
For the third consecutive year, Utah Valley's postseason fate came down to the final game of the season, and for the third consecutive year, the team got the result it needed. In 2022, the Wolverines secured a come-from-behind win over CBU to make the WAC Tournament, then tied GCU 2-2 to close out the 2023 regular season to punch their ticket.
#GOALS
Entering postseason play, Utah Valley is the only school in NCAA Division I with both a men's and women's soccer player in the top 10 nationally in goals scored. UVU women's soccer's Faith Webber enters the week 1st in the nation, and men's soccer's Omar Yehya is tied for 7th.
WILLIAMS KEEPING THINGS TIDY
Against CBU on Sunday, Ben Williams kept his fifth clean sheet of the season and third in his last four games. Williams' five shutouts are tied for the second-most by a Wolverine keeper in a single season. The team record is six, set by Mitch Jensen in 2019. Williams also lowered his goals-against average to 1.118, which is best in the WAC.
UP NEXT
With a win, the Wolverines will advance to the WAC Tournament semifinals, set to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Utah Valley would face the No. 1 seed and regular season champions San Diego State in another 4 p.m. MST start. All WAC Tournament action will air on ESPN+.
