No. 9 seed WOU Men's Soccer (13-4-1)
SCHEDULE
Thursday - First Round
vs. No. 8 seed Point Loma (11-3-3), 2 p.m. (PT)
Pueblo, Colorado - Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium
Saturday (if win) - Second Round
at No. 1 seed CSU-Pueblo (14-3-3), 2 p.m. (PT)
Pueblo, Colorado - Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium
Live Stream & Stat Links
 
HEADING INTO NCAAs ...
Statistics: WOU | PLNU | CSUP
National Stat Rankings: WOU | PLNU | CSUP
The Wolves, who clinched GNAC title the week before (the program's first in just its third season), are coming off a pair of losses this past week (doubling their loss total), falling at Western Washington and at Northwest Nazarene.

WOU on Monday picked up the No. 9 seed and takes on the No. 8 seed and PacWest champion Point Loma in the Wolves' first NCAA appearance 2 p.m. (PT) Thursday at Art and Lorraine Gonzales Stadium on the campus of CSU-Pueblo. The winner takes on the host and top-seeded ThunderWolves 2 p.m. (PT) Saturday in the second round.

The trio of teams in Pueblo each rank in the top 25 in scoring with the Wolves 14th in D-II at 2.56 goals per game, Point Loma right behind in 15th at 2.53 goals per game and CSU-Pueblo 25th at 2.25 goals per game.

Both WOU and PLNU have been to Colorado this season with the Wolves going up twice during non-conference (going 2-1-1, including a loss at then-No. 2 CSU-Pueblo) while the Sea Lions tied with Regis in Denver and lost at Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

PLNU is coming off a loss in the PacWest Championships semifinal, falling to Fresno Pacific (the second time the Sea Lions have lost to FPU - their other loss came in non-conference at Colorado School of Mines).

CSU-Pueblo enters the contest on a seven-match unbeaten streak, including defeating No. 3 UCCS and No. 17 Fort Lewis to claim the RMAC Championships title (the ThunderWolves also won the regular season crown).
 
SERIES HISTORY
Point Loma
All-Time: First Meeting

CSU-Pueblo
All-time: 0-1
Last Played: Sept. 5, 2024 (3-0 CSU-Pueblo win)
 
NOTES
Wolves continue to be at top-team 15 in goals ...

• WOU is 14th in the nation in goals per game (2.56), 11th in total goals (46) and sixth in shot accuracy (0.533).
• A sign of the depth of talent on the team, while being No. 14 in Division II in scoring offense, WOU doesn't have a player in the top 120 in goals per game as 15 different players have scored this season for WOU - 11 with multiple goals and five with four or more.

Awards & honors aplenty ...
The Wolves claimed all but one of the major awards and had eight players honored when the GNAC released their postseason awards Tuesday.

• Coach of the Year: Michael Behonick 
• Defensive Player of the Year: Andre Schlaefli 
• Freshman of the Year: Marcus Vazquez
• Newcomer of the Year: Caleb Kiner
• 1st Team All-GNAC:
  • Yahir Ocampo Navarro (So., Midfielder)
  • Caleb Kiner (Jr., Defender)
  • Ethan Fisher (So., Defender)
  • Andre Schlaefli (Sr., Goalkeeper)
• All-GNAC Honorable Mention:
  • Marcus Vazquez (Fr, Midfielder)
  • Jacob Garcia (Sr., Midfielder)
  • Abraham Villalobos (Jr., Midfielder)
  • Harper Neubeck (Jr., Defender)

WOU's undefeated streak of 13 (11-0-2) in Monmouth to continue into 2025 ...
While the Wolves officially show a loss this season at home, the game had to be played at Salem's Willamette University. So while not an official home win streak, WOU still hasn't lost a match in Monmouth since Nov. 3, 2022 (741 days as of Wednesday) - owning an 11-0-2 mark in Monmouth home matches, including going 6-0 this season on campus.

The Behonick/Kagey effect ...
Since WOU head coach Michael Behonick and assistant coach Tim Kagey took over prior to the Wolves' second season since returning as an NCAA program in 2023, the Wolves have shined with a 26-7-4 mark. For reference, WOU went 2-13-2 in its first season in 2022.

Wolves move up a spot to No. 14 ... POLL
The Western Oregon men's soccer team moved up a spot to No. 14 in the Nov. 5 United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll. These are the first six weeks WOU has been ranked in the program's three-year history.

Wolves national rankings in 2024:
Oct. 1 - #25
Oct. 8 - #24
Oct. 15 - #15
Oct. 22 - #10
Oct. 29 - #15
Nov. 5 - #14

Let's go streaking!
This season the Wolves set records for:

• Unbeaten streak: 11 (10-0-1)
• Win streak: 7
• Home unbeaten streak: 11 (9-0-2) / a span of 723 days between home losses

WOU GNAC Players of the Week

• Ethan Fisher, Defensive (Nov. 11)
• Alexis Luna, Offensive (Nov. 4)
• Andre Schlaefli, Defensive (Oct. 7 & Oct. 14)
• Michael Divano, Offensive (Sept. 23)
• Yahir Ocampo Navarro, Offensive (Sept. 16)

Wolves picked second in GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll
The Western Oregon men's soccer team picked up a pair of first-place votes and was voted to finish second in the GNAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll. The Wolves - entering year three as a program - snagged two of the five first-place votes and finished with 41 points - two points behind Simon Fraser (which collected the other five first-place votes). Seattle Pacific and Western Washington tied for third with 32 points followed by Northwest Nazarene (25), Montana State Billings (13) and Saint Martin's (10).

The Wolves went from a 2-13-2 team (1-10-1 in conference) in their first season in 2022 to 11-3-3 overall and 8-1-3 in GNAC play last season in head coach Michael Behonick's first season at the helm. WOU finished just short of a GNAC title as with games in the conference canceled due to inclement weather, the standings came down to points per match. WOU finished at 2.25 points per match with its 8-1-3 conference record, .02 points behind Simon Fraser's 2.27 with a 8-2-1 record.