UVU men’s soccer comes up short in bid for WAC Championship

Late penalty call in regulation costs Wolverines an automatic NCAA bid

Kyle McDonald | Sports Editor | @kylesportsbias

After playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation and two overtime periods for the Western Athletic Conference men’s soccer championship, it all came down to penalty kicks.

Seattle University won the penalty kick shootout 5-4 over Utah Valley University on Sunday afternoon to claim the tournament title and earn the conferences automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

It was a defensive battle between both teams as neither team could establish any rhythm or continuous possession.

The break for UVU came in the 66th minute when the Wolverines were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area.  Alex Neff then hit a laser into the back of the net to give UVU a 1-0 lead.

With four minutes to play and Seattle trailing 1-0, Hamza Haddadi drew a foul in the penalty area and was awarded a penalty kick. Haddadi put the ball past UVU goalkeeper Collin Partee and tied the game up.

During the next Seattle attack in the final minute of regulation, Partee came out of his box trying to knock the ball away but ran into the Redhawk attacker. Partee drew a red card and was ejected from the game.  Avery Miller came into the game as the goalkeeper but UVU still played with 10 men for the next two minutes and for 20 minutes of overtime.

On the first attempt by UVU in the shootout, Skyler Milne missed off to the right side.  It was the only miss by either team but it was all that was needed.  Haddadi put home the winner into the right side of the net, helping Seattle win the 2015 WAC Championship.

UVU will now await the selection process for the NCAA tournament, which takes place on Monday, as there is a slight chance they may get an at-large bid.