No. 21 Utah Valley wins 8th straight, finds itself atop WAC standings

OREM — There was a lot riding on Saturday night's Western Athletic Conference soccer match between Utah Valley University and UNLV.

The 21st-ranked Wolverines were on a seven-match winning streak, and a win would put them atop the WAC standings with one match remaining on the schedule. It was also a night to honor three seniors who have been key in building an NCAA Division I soccer program from scratch.

The night went off with, perhaps just one hitch. Senior forward Skyler Milne couldn't play in his final regular season home match due to a shoulder injury he sustained on Thursday night against Grand Canyon. However, everything else went according to the plan.

Paul Hoffmeister scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season in the 83rd minute and UVU picked up a 2-1 win over UNLV Saturday night at Clyde Field.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable," All-WAC defender and senior Alex Neff said. "I couldn't have asked for anything more. To play with these guys, for the staff, for this school and this university. Kind of emotional."

With the win, UVU now sits atop the WAC standings with 24 points. Seattle University sits in second place with 23 points. Both teams have one match left on November 5.

"This was a big one tonight," UVU head coach Greg Maas said. "We knew UNLV was going to come in. We've always had tremendous matches between the two of us. We needed to win tonight to really control our destiny going into our final match next week in San Antonio."

UNLV got on the board first in the Danny Musovski scored his 10th goal of the season in the 44th minute.

However, 39 seconds later, UVU got the equalizer on a Donnett Sackie header. It was the second goal of the season for Sackie.

"We play a little bit differently with Skyler on the field," Maas said. "Teams respond to us a little bit differently so without him the ball was going to stay down. We were going to have to look to combine to get in and break a team down. To give up that goal is going to happen in a game. The most important part of that half was our response and we came out and played a fantastic second half today."

Sackie made his presence felt in the most important parts of the match. Tied 1-1 with seven minutes to play, Sackie lofted a ball into the box and it just happened to find the head of his roommate Paul Hoffmeister. The junior from Hilden, Germany headed the ball past UNLV goalkeeper Enrique Adame and put UVU up 2-1.

"I couldn't be more proud of the goals from Donnett Sackie tonight," Maas said. "For him to equalize that game and to have the assist to Paul Hoffmeister at the end was absolutely magical."

The night wasn't just about the win. It was about honoring three players who have helped the Wolverines have great success and earn national prominence.

"It was senior night," Maas said. "I couldn't be more proud of what Skyler Milne, Alex Neff and Tom Loomis have brought to this team and our locker room. Tonight was for them."

Milne, Neff and Loomis have been at UVU since the beginning and have been catalysts in the program achieving some milestones. They have helped the Wolverines win 38 matches over three years, the school's first-ever top-25 ranking and the school's first-ever at-large berth to the NCAA tournament in any sport.

These three seniors will also get the opportunity to help the men's soccer team achieve another accomplishment: a WAC regular season title. With a win over Incarnate Word on Saturday, UVU would be crowned WAC champions and earn the top seed for the WAC tournament in two weeks.

"We're gonna get healthy," Maas said. We're gonna have a great week of training. With the WAC championship on the line on the table next week in San Antonio, I can't wait to watch these guys play."

Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs and the Utah Valley University Wolverines. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias

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