Air Force Advances to WAC Finals with 1-0 Win Against UTRGV

LAS VEGAS - The sixth-seeded Falcons secured their second-straight WAC Tournament upset, outscoring the second-seeded UTRGV Vaqueros, 1-0, Thursday afternoon at Peter Johann Memorial Field. The Falcons, who are returning to the WAC finals for the first time since 2016, improved their overall record to 6-4-1.

Air Force controlled the majority of the possessions in the first 45, taking eight shots to the Vaqueros five. The Falcons put Vaquero keeper Trevor Schneider to test, taking five shots on target while Falcon keeper Kainoa Likewise faced one shot on frame, making the save.

Air Force upped the ante with a goal early in the second half as Quinn Matulis received the ball off the chest and sent it forward to Jake Angeletti who one touched it to the low left corner off the left foot, beating Schneider's diving save attempt in the 50^th minute. The goal marked Angeletti's second of the season while Matulis registered his second assist of the tournament, fifth of the season.

The body language of UTRGV appeared to grow more urgent with each passing minute as the Vaqueros pressed for an equalizer. UTRGV took nine shots in the second half but a staunch Falcon defense prevented them from getting too many opportunities from in close. The Vaqueros were only credited with one shot on target in what became a desperate offensive onslaught to extend their season.

The Air Force defense anchored by the tenacity of London Aghedo and Kainoa Likewise, along with Reece Cooke and Giuliano Daniel who each logged 90-minutes of action, held off the high-powered UTRGV attack.

At the final horn, UTRGV outshot Air Force, 14-11, but the Falcons put six shots on goal two the Vaqueros' two. Daniel led the squad with three shots, all on goal.

"Hats off to UTRGV, they're a great quality team with quality players," head coach Doug Hill said. "We're going out there believing that we can get it done and that led to a huge defensive effort. We had 11 guys attacking but I think the 11 guys defending was more important today. Our players are hungry, playing as a team and we are ready for the challenge of an undefeated GCU team. Earlier this season we got a lot of good looks against them and only lost a 1-0 match, so it'll be good to go out and try to get that one back."

"I'm really proud of this team," Hill continued. "From taking a losing record and turning it to a winning record in the tournament, it's a great accomplishment and I'm really proud of their effort."

The Falcons and Lopes will kick off championship action, Saturday, April 17, at 1 p.m. PT at Peter Johann Memorial Field. Top-seeded GCU (8-0, 7-0 WAC) is coming in hot off a two-nil win over Seattle U, earlier today.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.