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OREM — It started out as a beautiful, warm fall day on the campus of Utah Valley University and all was well with the world. But the end of the night brought the end of championship aspirations for the top two seeds in the Western Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament.
Here is a recap of a wild day of soccer at Clyde Field in Orem.
Semifinal: No. 3 Air Force 3, No. 2 Seattle 1
Despite playing a quarterfinal match Thursday night to get to the semifinals, Air Force looked fresh and ready to go as it knocked off Seattle for the second time in less than a week.
The Redhawks took the early lead on a Kyle Bjornethun goal in the 16th minute. Air Force got the equalizer right before the first half ended, and in the second half, it was all Falcons.
Jaric Marton gave Air Force the lead in the 49th minute and Tucker Bone came off the bench to put the game away in the 69th minute to help the Falcons earn the first spot in Sunday's championship match.
Semifinal: No. 4 UNLV 1, No. 1 UVU 0
It was a match of what could have been for the top-seeded Wolverines. According to UVU head coach Greg Maas, UVU had opportunity after opportunity in the first half to take a two- or three-goal lead but just couldn't find the back of the net. It eventually caught up with the Wolverines.
"Full credit to UNLV," Maas said. "They were a resilient group tonight. They bent but they didn't break.
"I thought we had a lot of opportunities in the first half that we just did not take advantage of. Multiple chances that I thought we were going to get a goal maybe two, maybe three. I'm not sure why we weren't pulling the trigger, but that comes back to haunt you when you miss easy opportunities early in the match."
UNLV scored just one minute into the second half. The first goal of the season for Spencer Jackson couldn't have come at a better time as he put one in the back of the net in the 46th minute, and the Rebels held off a furious rally late in the match to earn the second spot in Sunday's championship game.
"It's an understatement that we're disappointed," Maas said. "We had better expectations of ourselves today, and I thought for a good majority of the game we were pretty good. We did not execute well in the final third. We just need to be sharper. We missed opportunities in games past that we're sticking in the back of the net."
The Wolverines find themselves in a similar situation as a year ago where they will have to wait for the NCAA Selection Show on Monday to find out if there will be more soccer or if the season is finished.
"We've got to wait until Monday now," Maas said. "We're going to train at 10 am in the morning and be back at it. We'll hope for the very best and hope that our body of work gives us a chance to get into the tournament."
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
