The 2019 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer season will be the 37th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The regular season will begin on August 30, 2019 and conclude on November 2, 2019. The regular season will culminate with the

2019 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament The 2019 WAC men's soccer tournament was the 12th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament. The tournament began on November 13 and concluded ...

, which will begin on November 8 and conclude on November 16, 2019.

Background

The 2018 season began in August 2018 and concluded in November 2018. The regular season champions, Air Force, enjoyed their best regular season ever, and their best NCAA Tournament berth since 1993. Air Force finished the season ranked 12th in the nation, and achieved a 17–5–0 record. In the

2018 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament The 2018 WAC men's soccer tournament was the 11th edition of the tournament. It determined the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The defending champions were Seattle U. Howev ...

, Air Force were eliminated by eventual tournament champions, Grand Canyon. Both teams earned berths into the

2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament The 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was the 60th edition of the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college soccer. The first four rounds of ...

, being the two WAC representatives in the tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, Grand Canyon was eliminated on penalty kicks by UC Irvine in the first round. Air Force defeated Central Arkansas, 4–0 in the first round. In the second round, they played against in-state rivals, Denver, where they won 2–1. In the Sweet Sixteen, Air Force traveled out east to take on Indiana, where they lost 2–0. Indiana would end being the national runners-up. At the end of the season, Air Force's Tucker Bone was named an

Consensus All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

by earned first-team All-American honors by College Soccer News, ''Top Drawer Soccer'', ''

Soccer America ''Soccer America'', the oldest soccer-specific media publisher in the United States, was founded in 1971 by Clay Berling in Albany, California. The magazine is headquartered in Oakland, California. History The magazine was founded by Clay Ber ...

'', and

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

. Bone was the highest drafted WAC player selected in the

2019 MLS SuperDraft The 2019 MLS SuperDraft was the twentieth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is typically held in conjunction with the annual January United Soccer Coaches convention, which in 2019 was held in Chicago, Illinois. The fi ...

, being drafted in the first round, twentieth overall by

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. Three other WAC players were drafted in the 2019 SuperDraft: Camden Riley (

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

), Nathan Aune (

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

), and

Mitch Osmond Mitch Osmond (born 11 March 1994) is an Australian soccer player who plays as a defender for Forward Madison FC in USL League One. Career Osmond began his college soccer at Calumet College of St. Joseph in 2015, before transferring to the Uni ...

(

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the W ...

Teams

A total of 12 teams are due to take part in the conference this season. On July 1, 2019, the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC or Kansas City) is a Public university, public research university in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and has a UMKC School of Medicine, medic ...

announced that its athletic program, previously known as the UMKC Kangaroos, would be rebranded as the

Kansas City Roos The Kansas City Roos, known before July 1, 2019, as the UMKC Kangaroos and also sometimes called the Kansas City Kangaroos, are the intercollegiate teams representing the University of Missouri–Kansas City that compete in the National Collegia ...

, with "Roos" having long been used as a short form of the historic "Kangaroos" nickname. The 2019 season will be the last for both

CSU Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Ba ...

and Kansas City as WAC members. On July 1, 2020, CSU Bakersfield will join the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

and Kansas City will return to the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

after a seven-year absence.

Stadiums and locations

Head coaches

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 21, 2019.

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in July and August 2019.

Preseason awards

Listed in the order that they were released

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Conference results

Postseason

WAC Tournament

NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament will begin in November 2019 and conclude on December 17, 2019.

Rankings

National rankings

Regional rankings

The Far West region of the United Soccer poll ranks teams across the Pac-12, WAC, and Big West.

Awards and honors

Preseason honors

Postseason honors

2020 MLS Draft

The

2020 MLS SuperDraft The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was the 21st edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first SuperDraft held exclusively via conference call and web streaming. The first two rounds of the 2020 SuperDraft we ...

will be held in January 2020.

Total picks by school

List of selections

Homegrown players

The Homegrown Player Rule is a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual Draft (sports), college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada in which MLS clubs take turns selecting from a pool of eligible amateur players. These drafted players usually come f ...

. To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. Players can play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

References

External links

WAC Men's Soccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Western Athletic Conference Mens Soccer Season 2019 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season