Grand Canyon Antelopes men's soccer
{{Short description|American college soccer team}}
{{Infobox college soccer team
|name = Grand Canyon Antelopes men's soccer
|logo = Grand Canyon University 2023 Logo Update.svg
|logo_size = 150
|university = Grand Canyon University
|conference = Western Athletic Conference
|conference_short = WAC
|division =
|founded = {{start date and age|1985}}
|city = Phoenix
|stateabb = AZ
|state = Arizona
|coach = George Kiefer
|tenure = 1st
|stadium = GCU Stadium
|capacity = 6,000
|nickname = Antelopes
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|ISFAchampion =
|NCAAchampion =
|NCAArunnerup =
|NCAAcollegecup =
|NCAAeliteeight =
|NCAAsweetsixteen =
|NCAAroundof32 =
|NCAAtourneys = 2018, 2020, 2021
|conference_tournament = 2018
|conference_season = 2020, 2021
|current= }}
The Grand Canyon Antelopes men's soccer program represents Grand Canyon University in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. Founded in 1985, the Antelopes have competed in the Western Athletic Conference since 2013. GCU plays its home matches at GCU Stadium.
NCAA Tournament history
After transitioning from NCAA Division II to Division I, GCU was eligible for the Division I postseason for the first time in 2017. The Lopes qualified for the NCAA Tournament in just their second season of Division I eligibility, winning the Western Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament in 2018 behind three consecutive 1–0 shutout victories.[https://www.azfamily.com/sports/going-dancing-gcu-men-s-soccer-team-makes-history/article_7a5d16da-e6f7-11e8-9ff0-2b01b25bc693.html Going Dancing: GCU men's soccer team makes history]
Grand Canyon qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times at the Division II level, highlighted by a Division II National Championship in 1996.[https://www.ncaa.com/history/soccer-men/d2 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer History]
| class="wikitable"
! width= px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Grand Canyon Antelopes|border=1|color=#ffffff}}"| Season ! width= px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Grand Canyon Antelopes|border=1|color=#ffffff}}"| Round ! width= px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Grand Canyon Antelopes|border=1|color=#ffffff}}"| Opponent ! width= px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Grand Canyon Antelopes|border=1|color=#ffffff}}"| Score |
| 2018
|First round |1–1 (lost in {{pso}}) |
| 2020
|First round | 0–2 |
| 2021
|Second round | 0–1 |
Facility history
The Lopes played at GCU Soccer Field up until the construction of GCU Stadium. GCU played its inaugural season in the new facility in 2016. Since the opening of the facility, GCU has ranked in the top 10 in average attendance per match in 2016 and 2018, getting significant fan support from the university's student section, the Havocs.
GCU Stadium hosted its first game on August 26, 2016, when GCU defeated UCF 4–2. The crowd of 6,402 fans was the ninth-largest crowd in the 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season.[http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_soccer_RB/2017/2016attend.pdf 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Attendance Record Book]
GCU hosted the fourth-largest crowd of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season when it opened the season by defeating Wisconsin 2–1 in front of 6,648 fans.[https://stats.ncaa.org/season_divisions/16580/attendance_sg_highs 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer largest single-game crowds]
Notable seasons
= 2018 =
The 2018 team qualified for the program's first ever NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament by going 3–0 in the WAC Tournament.
GCU finished as the nation's most improved defense, ranking 181st nationally in goals against average in 2017 before jumping to 25th in 2018.
The Lopes finished the season 5–0 against top-25 opponents, defeating No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 20 Creighton, No. 25 Seattle U, and Air Force twice, once as No. 8 and once as No. 13.[https://gculopes.com/news/2018/12/3/mens-soccer-year-of-bests-firsts.aspx Season of bests, firsts]
= 1996 =
Grand Canyon won the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship by defeating Seattle Pacific, Lynn and Oakland.
Coaching history
GCU has had six head coaches in its program history.[https://gculopes.com/sports/2018/11/29/mens-soccer-coach-records.aspx?id=285 GCU Men's Soccer Coaching History]
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| style="background:#522398; color:White;" rowspan="2"|Years
! style="background:#522398; color:White;" rowspan="2"|Coach ! style="background:#522398; color:White;" colspan="5"|Overall ! style="background:#522398; color:White;" colspan="5"|Conference |
|---|
| style="background:#522398; color:White;"|GP
! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|W ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|L ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|T ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|Pct. ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|GP ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|W ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|L ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|T ! style="background:#522398; color:White;"|Pct. |
| 1985–92
|Peter Duah |140 |86 |44 |10 |.650 |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| 1993–2014
|Petar Draksin |437 |225 |171 |41 |.562 |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| 2015–20
|103 |45 |49 |9 |.481 |58 |25 |26 |7 |.491 |
| 2021
|20 |15 |4 |1 |.775 |11 |9 |2 |0 |.818 |
| 2022–23
|35 |14 |15 |6 |.486 |17 |6 |7 |4 |.471 |
| -
|2024- |0 |0 |0 |0 |.000 |0 |0 |0 |0 |.000 |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| - |
| colspan="2" |Totals
!735 !385 !283 !67 !.569 !301 !171 !105 !25 !.610 |
{{small|Last updated: December 15, 2023}}
Notable alumni
- Matheau Hall, professional soccer player
- Niki Jackson, Colorado Rapids and 2018 MLS SuperDraft pick
- Hector Montalvo, Tigres UANL
- Saeed Robinson, Colorado Springs Switchbacks
- Amer Sasivarevic, OKC Energy FC and 2018 MLS SuperDraft pick (program's first MLS SuperDraft pick)
- Evan Waldrep, Phoenix Rising FC
- Esai Easley, Sporting Kansas City and 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick
- Justin Rasmussen, Portland Timbers and 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons cat}}
- {{official website}}
{{Grand Canyon University}}
{{Western Athletic Conference men's soccer navbox}}