Know thy enemy

Photo by Cody Glassett

Utah Valley University enters the heart of Western Athletic Conference competition on the road this week, but you can still watch your Wolverines by streaming games on WAC Digital Network. The links to games can be found under the respective team schedules on WolverineGreen.com.

Let’s get to know our foe with this week’s preview.

The men’s soccer team heads on a conference road trip that starts Friday at 7 p.m. MT in Colorado Springs, Colorado against the Air Force Academy. The Falcons are undefeated at home, with a record of 3-0-0 and are outscoring opponents by a margin of 12-2 at Cadet Soccer Stadium. Forward Austin Dewing leads the cadets with six goals and five assists.

The Wolverines then take on the Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos Sunday at 6 p.m. MT.

UMKC has struggled this season as it was shut out in four of its first eight games. However, the Kangaroos started WAC play with a 2-0 shutout of the Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros.

The Wolverine volleyball team will be traveling to California this week to take on Cal State Bakersfield Thursday at 8 p.m. MT. Last year, UVU split with Bakersfield as each team won their home match. This season, the Roadrunners stumbled out of the gate with a 3-10 record through non-conference play. In each of their losses, Bakersfield has been held to one set or fewer.

Following the California trip, UVU will travel to Phoenix, Arizona for a Saturday matinee against Grand Canyon University as the game will begin at 2 p.m. MT. The Wolverines were 2-0 against the Lopes last season as they only lost a total of two sets in those matches. GCU faced similar challenges to Bakersfield in non-conference play as they finished 4-8, including being swept five times in losses.

UVU will face off against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Friday in Edinburg, Texas with kickoff set for 6 p.m. In its last match, UVU came away with the decisive win over UTRGV with a score of 2-0. The Wolverines will have their work cut out for them this time, as UTRGV averages 2.82 goals per game.

The last time New Mexico State faced off against UVU, the Wolverines came away with a 4-0 statement win at Clyde Field. This time around, UVU will travel to Las Cruses, New Mexico looking to put NMSU away quickly once again. UVU enters the match with a slight upper hand, averaging 1.55 goals per game to NMSU’s 1.08. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. Sunday.

Reporting by: Brad Curnow, Kaleb Searle, David Roura