Utah top seed in tourney

Utah, which claimed its third outright and second consecutive regular-season soccer title, enters this week's Mountain West Conference tournament as host and the No. 1 seed. The Utes (14-4-0 overall, 7-0-0 MWC) earned a first-round bye and will play Thursday.

BYU finished in second place with a 13-2-3 overall and 4-1-2 league record and also earned a bye and will begin play on Thursday.

UNLV (8-10-1, 3-4-0 MWC) and New Mexico (8-6-4, 2-2-3) tied for third, but the Rebels will get the third seed after defeating New Mexico 1-0 (OT) earlier in the season. San Diego State (6-11-2 overall, 2-3-2 MWC) and Wyoming (7-8-3, 2-3-2 MWC) shared the fifth spot in the standings, with the Aztecs claiming the fifth seed after defeating the Cowgirls 2-0 in the regular season.

The conference tournament runs Wednesday through Saturday at Ute Field on the campus of the University of Utah. The opening match pairs No. 3 UNLV vs. No. 6 Wyoming at 4:30 p.m.. The other Wednesday match features No. 4 seed New Mexico vs. No. 5 San Diego State at 7 p.m.

Utah and BYU will play in the semifinals on Thursday at 7 and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

The championship match is slated for noon on Saturday, with the winner receiving an automatic bid into the 2006 NCAA Women's College Cup.

The MWC Women's Soccer Championship semifinal rounds will be televised live on The mtn. Saturday's championship game will be aired via tape delay on CSTV at 9 p.m.

MWC soccer tournament

Wednesday

No. 3 UNLV vs. No. 6 Wyoming, 4:30 p.m.

No. 4 New Mexico vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 7 p.m.

Thursday

No. 2 BYU vs. UNLV-Wyoming winner, 4:30 p.m.

No. 1 Utah vs. New Mexico-SDSU winner, 7 p.m.

Saturday

MWC championship, noon