No. 23 Air Force Hosts No. 22 San Francisco and Harvard

#23 AIR FORCE (5-1-0) vs. #22 SAN FRANCISCO (2-2-1)
Friday, Sept. 14, 7:00 p.m. MT
Cadet Soccer Stadium, USAFA, Colo.

#23 AIR FORCE vs. HARVARD
Sunday, Sept. 16, 11:00 a.m. MT
Cadet Soccer Stadium, USAFA, Colo.

THIS WEEK: The 23rd-ranked Falcons continue the second half of a four-game home stretch against No. 22 San Francisco and Harvard, Sept. 14 and 16, respectively. Air Force will take on the nationally ranked San Francisco Dons, Friday at 7 p.m. MT, and Harvard, Sunday at 11 a.m. MT. Both matches will be played at Cadet Soccer Stadium, USAFA. The meeting against San Francisco marks the 14th meeting between the teams; the Dons lead the series, 6-4-3, with Air Force winning in the most recent meeting in 2016, 4-3, in San Francisco. Air Force and Harvard will be meeting for the first time.

UP NEXT: Air Force opens the conference slate with a Saturday match against UMKC, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. CT, in Kansas City. The Falcons and Roos will be meeting for the ninth time with Air Force leading the all-time series, 5-2-1. Last season the Falcons downed UMKC in Kansas City, 2-1, in overtime.

LAST WEEK: Air Force picked up a pair of wins at home over the weekend, beating North Florida, 3-1, on Friday night and upending No. 13 Colgate in dominant fashion, 3-0, Sunday afternoon. The wins marked the fourth and fifth victories in a five-game win streak.

ON THE MAP: The 2017 WAC regular season champions are back in the polls as Air Force earned selection in all three polls that were released by Tuesday morning. The Falcons are 23rd in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, 19th in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 16th in the College Soccer News Top 30. Seattle U and Grand Canyon are among those receiving votes in the CSN Top 30.

AIR FORCE SWEEPS WAC'S WEEKLY HONOR: Air Force's Tucker Bone and James Sims have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 3 - 9. The honors mark the second and third for the Falcons this season.

Bone, a senior forward from Granite Bay, Calif. (Jesuit HS), was crucial in the Falcons' home-opening wins over North Florida and 13th-ranked Colgate. Against UNF, he scored the game-winning goal and assisted on another in a 3-1 win. He followed that up with another goal and assist in a 3-0 win over nationally-ranked Colgate. He leads Air Force with nine points this season, which also ties him for third in the WAC this season.

Along with the WAC's offensive honor, Bone was credited as the Air Force Athlete of the Week and made an appearance on College Soccer News' National Team of the Week.

Sims, a senior defender from Colorado Springs, Colo. (Air Academy HS), has been the linchpin for the Falcons defense this season, including a pair of home wins last week. He anchored the defense in its fourth and fifth wins while allowed just four shots on goal on Friday in a 3-1 win over North Florida and just three in a 3-0 shutout of 13th-ranked Colgate. As a team, the Falcons lead the WAC with a 0.48 goals against average with shutouts in four of their six matches this season.

THE FALCONS AT A GLANCE: Seven seniors, a pair of juniors and a pair of sophomores make up the Falcons' starting 11, led by team captains Bone, Austin Dewing and Zane Moxley. Bone leads the squad with 53 career starts in 65 games played while Dewing has played in 62 career matches with 33 starts. Bone leads Air Force with nine points from three goals and three assists while Dewing leads in goals with four. The Falcons have tallied 12 goals so far this season while only allowing three so far, making them conference front runners in scoring offense and goals against average.

Klint Parker leads the squad with 13 shots while Dewing leads with eight shots on frame. As a team, Air Force has out shot their opponents in the last five games. In all six games played, the Falcons have taken 84 shots to all opponents 63 while taking nearly twice as many shots on frame as opponents faced (37-20).

The Air Force defense is firing on all cylinders, posting their fourth shutout in the last five games including a 3-0 routing of nationally-ranked Colgate. Falcon keeper Andrea Seazzu is proving to be a human force field for opponents, notching 17 saves while posting his fourth shutout and fifth-straight win. He leads the WAC in shutouts and goals against average (0.48), while tying 24 other goalies from across NCAA Div. I for the second-most shutouts. With the assistance of the Falcons' superior defensive line, Seazzu has eight shutouts in 11 career appearances for a 10-1 career record in the Air Force cage. Junior defender Nick Blessing, along with Seazzu, have played every minute of the season thus far (559 minutes in six games). Blessing allegedly needs 4,000 calories a day to match his energy consumption when competing in season.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: The 22nd-ranked Dons of San Francisco (2-2-1) come to the Academy off a 1-4 loss to San Jose State, Sep. 10. San Francisco has picked up wins against CSU-Northridge and No. 8 UCLA. They tied San Diego State at one on Aug. 26. The Dons have scored six goals this season led by Sean Bowman and Santiago Digiuseppe with two apiece. They've scored five of those six goals in the second half. Bowman has taken three times as many shots (16) as any of his teammates. San Francisco has allowed opponents nine goals this season. Ruben Stuiver has logged all of the minutes in San Francisco's cage this season, he has a .654 save percentage and a 1.72 goals against average.

Harvard will come to the Academy after taking on No. 5 Denver on Friday, Sept. 15. Harvard holds a 1-3 overall record, picking up a 2-1 win over Providence while falling to Albany, No. 22 UMass Lowell and Hofstra. They are 0-2 on the road. The Crimson have notched four goals by way of four players this season. Havard Hjermstad and Taner Dogan lead the squad with four shots apiece. Goalie Matt Freese has registered the majority of minutes in the Crimson frame, making 12 saves while allowing four goals. He has a .750 save percentage and a 1.63 goals against average. Two other keepers logging minutes this season combine for five saves while allowing five goals.

THE WAC BY THE NUMBERS: Heading into the second full week of September, Air Force and Grand Canyon are tied for the lead in least goals allowed (3) while Air Force holds the top goals against average (0.48) and shutouts (4). San José State is the leader in saves (34). California Baptist is atop the WAC in overall statistical standings with 40 points, 15 goals and 16 assists. Seattle U is the leader in shots (103).

Individually, Houston Baptist's Gianluca Natera and UTRGV's Kyle Edwards are tied for the lead in shots (23). CBU's Preston Judd is the leader in both points (17) and goals (8). UNLV's Nico Clasen is the assist leader (5). Air Force keeper Andrea Seazzu has the top goals against average (0.48) and leads the WAC in shutouts (4) while Grand Canyon's George Tasouris has the best save percentage (.895). SJSU's Alex Clewis is the leader in saves (33).

REGIONALLY RANKED: The United Soccer Coaches switched up the regional ranking system for 2018 and the WAC is now in the Far West Region with the Pac-12 and Big West conferences. Air Force is the top WAC school ranked at fourth. Seattle U is eighth while UNLV is ninth.

BRING ON THE BEST: The WAC has played seven Top 25 opponents from the coaches' poll and has gone 6-0-1 in those games. Grand Canyon has two of those wins, San José State has a win and a tie and Air Force, UNLV and Seattle U have one Top 25 win each.

No. 23 Air Force Hosts No. 22 San Francisco and Harvard

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Players Mentioned

Nick Blessing

Tucker Bone

Austin Dewing

Zane Moxley

Klint Parker

James Sims

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