Editor-in-Chief
For the second year in a row, CSU Bakersfield will host a Western Athletic Conference Tournament. However, this time it will be the women’s soccer WAC Tournament.
The tournament will be held on Nov. 5 to Nov. 6 and the championship game will be on Nov. 8 at the Main Soccer Field.
“I think the conference sees that we are an operation that runs smoothly and they are confident that we are going to give the student athletes a great experience,” CSUB’s Athletic Conference Kenneth Siegfried said.
Siegfried said that the WAC looks at all the schools to see which school is interested in hosting the tournament.
Siegfried said they showed interest in hosting the women’s soccer tournament two years ago and the school was picked to host the WAC Tournament this year because it was determined that CSUB had the facilities and the infrastructure that is needed to host the tournament.
The Roadrunners (5-11-3, 3-5-2 WAC) earned the number fifth seed in the tournament and will face number-fourth seeded New Mexico State (5-14, 4-6 WAC) in the first round on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
CSUB women’s soccer head coach Gary Curneen said they are hoping to use the fact that the tournament will be at home as their advantage.
“We have to give the crowd something to shout about, and we have to give them a performance,” Curneen said.
CSUB’s senior goalkeeper Tori Ornela said that having the tournament at home means a lot to the seniors.
“It’s just a confidence boost to see how far we can get,” Ornela said. “If we do win that, that’s our goal is to win that championship. That’s always been our goal since the beginning of preseason and that hasn’t changed.”
The winner of the CSUB-NMSU game will play against No. 1-seeded Seattle University in the semifinals on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.
Director in Facilities in the Athletics Department and Director of the WAC Tournament Matt Singer said that the first 50 students or fans will receive free tickets. Since it’s a WAC Tournament, there aren’t any free tickets to anybody, so these tickets will be purchased by athletics and given out to the students or fans for free.
The price for the passes to get in the games vary. It’s $25 for adults, $12 for youth (4-17), $12 for seniors (60-plus), $12 for WAC students and $12 for WAC staff. All-session passes and single-session passes are currently on sale and to secure your seats or for more details, contact the CSUB Athletics Ticket Office at (661) 654-2583 or [email protected].
Singer also said to host the tournament will cost around $8,000.
“We are projecting to bring in around $8,000 in ticket sales, so depending on how much we make in ticket sales probably no cost.”
Siegfried added that if they had to travel for the tournament the cost would be $10,000 because of travel cost.
“I think [hosting the tournament] does a lot,” Siegfried said. “First of all, I think it gives us the opportunity to show that we are going to put a first-class tournament and I have no doubt that’s what we are going to do. It also just kind of enhances the spirit. It gives the opportunity for our students and our student athletes to experience having a championship here.”
Siegfried added that what he wants out of having the tournament at CSUB is for every student athlete to have a great time.
