RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Grand Canyon extended its season by defeating Utah Valley 1-0 in a WAC Tournament quarterfinal Monday night for its sixth consecutive match without a loss.
The third-seeded Lopes (11-3-4) advanced to a Wednesday semifinal against second-seeded Utah Tech at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time).
GCU beat Utah Valley for the second time this season in a fairly even matchup, with the Lopes outshooting the Wolverines 15-12 and Utah Valley having a 7-6 edge in corner kicks. The difference was a 48th-minute goal from sophomore forward Alan Hermitte and the Lopes’ third shutout in the past four matches.
The first half was a blow-by-blow stalemate with seven shots for each team, and Utah Valley put two of those on goal. The Lopes were knocking on the door first when graduate forward Ben Assane took their first shot with a header that narrowly missed wide in the ninth minute.
The Wolverines had a strong offensive start, but Ibarra continued his strong form with two saves in the first half. Despite Utah Valley having more possession in the half, GCU continued to feed counter attacks that were led by star freshman forward Junior Diouf.
“We understood that Utah Valley won a lot of possession battles throughout the year, so we weren’t really too concerned with that,” Lopes head coach George Kiefer said.
GCU started quickly in the second half, scoring in the first three minutes. Lopes freshman midfielder Diego Sanchez whipped a corner kick into the goal box, where freshman Charles Volcy passed out of traffic to Hermitte high on the right side of the box. Hermitte immediately nailed a shot into the left side of the net for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 lead in the 48th minute.
Kiefer was pleased with how much work Hermitte who is from Allauch, France, has been putting into his play this season prior to netting what would be the game winning goal.
“Alan had to grind,” Kiefer said. “He worked to get back up into the lineup and played good minutes tonight and then really took that chance well.”
One thing the Lopes also carried out well was their defensive game plan against a Utah Valley team that nearly cracked the national top 25 earlier in the season.
“With the amount of guys they pushed forward, we did a great job dropping our ‘6’ back and getting over on defense,” Kiefer said. “Hats off to the guys. I thought they did really well off the ball.”
Play got chippy in the second half as both teams fought for a spot in the WAC semifinals. Utah Valley’s Lewis Knecht drew yellow card in the 63rd minute and Assane as issued one in the 65th minute.
That singular goal was all the Lopes needed despite multiple late pushes from Diouf. including one in the 77th minute when he just missed wide right after dribbling past five Wolverines defenders.
GCU’s defense proved strong through the match, holding off two late corner kicks from Utah Valley before securing the program’s first postseason win since the 2021 team won the WAC Tournament championship.
After a two-day break, the Lopes will continue their postseason on Wednesday against a Utah Tech team that tied GCU 2-2 in Phoenix on Oct. 23. Fourth-seeded San José State, a 4-0 winner against San Diego State later Sunday, will play top-seeded host California Baptist in the other Wednesday semifinal. The championship match will be Saturday at 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) at California Baptist.
ALLLLAAANNN!! 👏
Lopes take a 1-0 lead in Riverside‼️ pic.twitter.com/sUCHRoU1OU
— GCU Men’s Soccer (@GCU_MSoccer) November 10, 2025
Onto the next for @GCU_MSoccer!#WACmsoc pic.twitter.com/j3lPgB3p5t
— The Western Athletic Conference (@WACsports) November 10, 2025
