Falcons Wrap up Regular Season at UNM, UNLV
11/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 2, 2006
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Schedule
Friday, Nov. 3 at New Mexico, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 5 at UNLV, 1 p.m.
Live Stats
www.goairforcefalcons.com (Gametracker)
Recent Results
Air Force (4-11-1, 3-5) lost to Denver, 1-0
New Mexico (11-3-3, 6-1-1) tied Sac. State, 1-1; def. San Jose State, 3-1
UNLV (0-14-2, 0-8) lost to San Jose State, 3-0; lost to Sac. State, 2-1 (2ot)
Coaches
Air Force is coached by Lou Sagastume (San Francisco, 1968), who is in his 28th season with the Falcons. Sagastume has a record of 281-187-43 at the Academy and a career mark of 302-194-43 in 29 seasons.
UNLV is coached by Mario Sanchez (Fresno State, 1999), who is in his first season with the Rebels. Sanchez was an assistant coach at Akron for three years before joining the Rebel program.
New Mexico is coached by Jeremy Fishbein (UC Santa Barbara, 1989), who is in his fifth season with the Lobos. Fishbein has a record of 72-19-11 at New Mexico. He led UNM to the national championship game last season.
Top Players
Air Force is led by freshman Josh Rhynard, who has scored a team-high nine points on four goals and one assist. Junior Andy Nigro follows with seven points (2g, 3a). Junior goalie Brian Guyette has a 1.88 GAA this season.
New Mexico is led by Brandon Barklage and Chris Wright, each with 10 points. Andrew Boyens and Joey Vitagliano follow with seven points apiece. Goalie Mike Graczyk leads the MPSF with a 0.61 GAA.
UNLV is led by Nicholas Patterson, who has nine points (2g, 5a) this season. Lamar Neagle (nine points) and Ben Haugland (eight points) follow. Goalie Calvin Bailey has a 2.21 GAA and has 43 saves.
Falcons Close out Regular Season
The Air Force Falcons (4-11-1, 3-5 MPSF) wrap up their 2006 regular season this weekend with a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road games. The Falcons will face New Mexico in Albuquerque on Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m., then head to UNLV on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. New Mexico downed Air Force, 3-1, earlier this season at Cadet Soccer Stadium, while the Falcons defeated UNLV 1-0 in overtime on a goal by freshman Steve Noller.
Sagastume Gets His 300th Win
With the Falcons' victory against UNLV on Sept. 29, Air Force head coach Lou Sagastume became the 25th coach in Division I history to win 300 games. Sagastume, who has a career record of 302-194-43, is 12th on the list of the Division I winningest active coaches. His record in 28 seasons at the Academy is 281-187-43.
Scoring at a Premium
The Falcons have had some problems putting the ball in the net this season. Air Force has scored just 15 goals in 16 games, tied with San Jose State for the second fewest in the conference (UNLV has scored 14). The Falcons have scored more than one goal only twice this season, a 3-2 loss to Evansville and a 2-1 victory over Sacramento State.
The Future Looks Bright
Air Force's top six scorers and 10 of the top 11 this season are underclassmen. In fact, three of the top six scorers are freshmen. Josh Rhynard leads the way with nine points on four goals and one assist, Steve Noller is tied for third with five points (2g, 1a) and Josh Nannen is sixth with three points (1g, 1a).
Holloway, Belvill Earn Academic All-District Honors
Two Air Force players have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 7 men's soccer team. Senior Nate Holloway and junior Jason Belvill will now go on the ballot for Academic All-America honors. This is the first all-district selection for each player.
Holloway, a midfielder from Broomfield, Colo., has appeared in a career-high 15 games for the Falcons this season. His junior season was cut short after four games due to a season-ending knee injury. Holloway has attempted seven shots this season. Academically, he has been on the dean's list every semester at the Academy and was voted the top cadet in his squadron for overall performance in the fall of 2005. Holloway carries a 3.56 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in biochemistry.
Belvill, a defender from Seattle, Wash., has played in all 16 games this season, starting 15 of them. He is leading a defense that has allowed just three goals in AFA's last four games. He has two assists in his career, both of them coming last season as a sophomore against Florida Atlantic and Missouri State. Belvill has also been a member of the dean's list every semester and has a 3.61 GPA in electrical engineering.
The district team is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alberta and Saskatchewan. To be nominated, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve, and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher. Team members are selected by a vote of members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) within the district.
Last Weekend's Recap
Denver 1, Air Force 0
Ben Mendozza scored the game-winning goal in the 77th minute despite being a man down as the University of Denver men's soccer team shut out Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Air Force 1-0 Saturday at Pioneer Field. The Pioneers improved to 11-3-2 overall and are still atop the league standings at 7-0-1. Air Force saw its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 4-11-1 overall and 3-5 in the MPSF.
The Pioneers outshot Air Force 8-3 in the first half with the best scoring opportunity coming in the 11th minute when Josh Fallin sent a point blank shot into the reaching grasp of a diving Falcon keeper Brian Guyette. The game was scoreless entering the second half.
Air Force came out with a mission after halftime and kept up with Denver answering seven of their nine shots. The game continued to be competitive until it escalated in the 66th minute which resulted in a red card issued to DU defender Colin Jones.
Denver regrouped and kept the Falcons from scoring, despite the fact that the Pioneers were a man down. The Pioneers finally scored the lone goal of the game in the 77th minute when Mendozza pounded in a lead pass from James Merriman. DU goalkeeper Matt Bredehoft earned his seventh shutout of the season with four saves, while Guyette had seven.
