2023 WAC women's soccer tournament

2023 WAC women's soccer tournament
Classification	Division I
Teams	6
Matches	5
Attendance	1,295
Site	CBU Soccer Field Riverside, California
Champions	Grand Canyon (2nd title)
Winning coach	Chris Cissell (2nd title)
MVP	Gianna Gourley (Grand Canyon)
Broadcast	ESPN+
WAC women's soccer tournament «2022   2024»

2023 WAC women's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
Utah Valley  ‍†‍‍	7	–	0	–	2		.889			10	–	4	–	5		.658
California Baptist  ‍‍‍	6	–	0	–	3		.833			11	–	2	–	6		.737
Seattle  ‍‍‍	6	–	2	–	1		.722			10	–	9	–	2		.524
Grand Canyon  ‍‍‡‍y	5	–	1	–	3		.722			14	–	5	–	4		.696
Utah Tech  ‍‍‍	3	–	2	–	4		.556			8	–	7	–	5		.525
Southern Utah  ‍‍‍	3	–	5	–	1		.389			3	–	11	–	5		.289
Abilene Christian  ‍‍‍	2	–	6	–	1		.278			7	–	9	–	2		.444
UT Rio Grande Valley  ‍‍‍	1	–	6	–	2		.222			3	–	10	–	4		.294
Stephen F. Austin  ‍‍‍	1	–	6	–	2		.222			2	–	14	–	2		.167
Tarleton State  ‍‍‍	1	–	7	–	1		.167			4	–	12	–	3		.289
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 WAC Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of December 5, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll Source: WAC

The 2023 Western Athletic Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Western Athletic Conference held from October 29 to November 4, 2023. The five-match tournament took place at CBU Soccer Field in Riverside, California on the campus of California Baptist University. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular-season divisional conference play. The defending champions were the New Mexico State Aggies. ^[1] New Mexico State was unable to defend their title as they moved to Conference USA during the off-season. ^[2] Grand Canyon would go on to defeat Seattle in the Final, 4–2 to win the tournament. ^{[3] [4]} This was the second WAC Tournament victory in Grand Canyon program history, both of which have come under head coach Chris Cissell. This was the second tournament title in three years for Grand Canyon. ^[5] As tournament champions, Grand Canyon earned the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Seeding

The top six teams from regular season play qualified for the 2023 Tournament. Teams were seeded based on regular season conference records and the top two seeds earned a bye into the semifinal round. No tiebreakers were required as each of the top six teams finished with unique conference records. ^[6]

Seed	School	Conference Record	Points
1	Utah Valley	7–0–2	23
2	California Baptist	6–0–3	21
3	Seattle	6–2–1	20
4	Grand Canyon	5–1–3	18
5	Utah Tech	3–2–4	13
6	Southern Utah	3–5–1	10

Bracket

Source: ^[7]

	First round Sunday, Oct. 29					Semifinals Wednesday, Nov. 1					Final Sunday, Nov. 4
						1	Utah Valley	1
	4	Grand Canyon	3			4	Grand Canyon	2
	5	Utah Tech	0								4	Grand Canyon	4
											3	Seattle	2
						2	California Baptist	1
	3	Seattle	2			3	Seattle	2
	6	Southern Utah	1

Matches

First round

#4 Grand Canyon v #5 Utah Tech

October 29	#4 Grand Canyon	3–0	#5 Utah Tech	Riverside, CA
4:00 p.m. PT	Bekah Valdez 19' Gianna Gourley 57', 76' Magdalena Schwarz  87'	Report	66' Kearney Hoggan	Stadium: CBU Soccer Field

#3 Seattle v #6 Southern Utah

October 29	#3 Seattle	2–1	#6 Southern Utah	Riverside, CA
7:00 p.m. PT	Caroline Penner 36' Hallie Bergford 83' Kacey LaBoda  89'	Report	49' Whitney Gardner	Stadium: CBU Soccer Field

Semifinals

#1 Utah Valley v #4 Grand Canyon

November 1	#1 Utah Valley	1–2	#4 Grand Canyon	Riverside, CA
4:00 p.m. PT	Ruby Hladek 61'	Report	25' Utah Valley Own Goal 88' Lindsey Prokop	Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 225

#2 California Baptist v #3 Seattle

November 1	#2 California Baptist	1–2	#3 Seattle	Riverside, CA
7:00 p.m. PT	Lourdes Bosch  43' Kaylee Hauck  65' Sonja Lux 81' (pen.)	Report	35' Kait Raffensperger  41' Jourdyn Curran 58' Kaylee Coatney	Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 796

Final

#3 Seattle v #4 Grand Canyon

November 4	#3 Seattle	2–4	#4 Grand Canyon	Riverside, CA
1:00 p.m. PT	Katie Piburn  18' Kaylee Coatney 75' Emma de la Cruz 77'	Report	21' Bekah Valdez 53' Leah Pirro 62' Gianna Gourley 67' Maddie Brady  86' Madison Hamm	Stadium: CBU Soccer Field Attendance: 274

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 18 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match (as of November 5, 2023).

3 goals

• Gianna Gourley – Grand Canyon

2 goals

• Bekah Valedz – Grand Canyon
• Kaylee Coatney – Seattle

1 goal

• Sonja Lux – California Baptist
• Maddie Brady – Grand Canyon
• Leah Pirro – Grand Canyon
• Lindsey Prokop – Grand Canyon
• Hallie Bergford – Seattle
• Emma de la Cruz – Seattle
• Caroline Penner – Seattle
• Kait Raffensperger – Seattle
• Whitney Gardner – Southern Utah
• Ruby Hladek – Utah Valley

1 own goal

• Utah Valley (vs. Grand Canyon)

All-Tournament team

Source: ^[8]

Player	Team
Lourdes Bosch	California Baptist
Gianna Gourley	Grand Canyon
DeAira Jackson
Leah Pirro
Lindsey Prokop
Bekah Valdez
Kaylee Coatney	Seattle
Kassidy Kirgan
Kacey La Boda
Kait Raffensperger
Ruby Hladek	Utah Valley

MVP in bold

References

1. Western Athletic Conference. "2022 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament" . Retrieved June 12, 2023.
2. "Conference USA Adds Four Members" (Press release). Conference USA. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
3. Western Athletic Conference. "2023 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament". wacsports.com. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
4. "SU women's soccer falls in WAC championship". The Seattle Times . November 4, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
5. Western Athletic Conference. "2023 Women's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). wacsports.com. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
6. Western Athletic Conference. "2023 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament Bracket Announced". wacsports.com. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
7. Western Athletic Conference. "2023 WAC Women's Soccer Bracket" (PDF). wacsports.com. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
8. "Grand Canyon Captures 2023 WAC Women's Soccer Championship Title". wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. Retrieved January 11, 2024.