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SEATTLE – Pac-12 play rolls on for Husky women’s soccer as Washington hosts a pair of top-10 foes during the week, starting with defending nation champion and fourth-ranked UCLA Thursday night at Husky Soccer Stadium.

The match, set for a 7 p.m. PT kickoff, will be the Huskies’ Dawg Pack Night, with current UW students in attendance receiving a free Dawg Pack t-shirt.

The matchup will be aired nationally across the Pac-12 Family of Networks, hitting your TV set via the main Pac-12 Network channel as well as Pac-12 Washington and Pac-12 Los Angeles. Links to live coverage can be found above and on the schedule page at GoHuskies.com.

SCOUTING UCLA

The Bruins are in their second season under the direction of Margueritte Aozasa, who led UCLA to its second-ever NCAA Championship in her first season at the helm of the program. Prior to moving to Westwood, Aozasa was an assistant coach at Stanford from 2015-21.

Ranked No. XX in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, UCLA is 7-1-0 entering Thursday’s matchup, coming off of a 3-1 victory over No. 20 Colorado that snapped the Buffaloes’ seven-match winning streak.

The defending Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, Ally Cook leads the Bruins with five goals on the season, one ahead of Sunshine Fontes. Reilyn Turner and America Frias are tied for the team lead with three assists apiece.

Neeku Purcell has started all eight matches for the Bruins, playing all but 10 minutes in goal. Purcell owns a 0.63 GAA and a .667 save percentage, facing just 15 shots on goal while locking down five clean sheets.

SERIES HISTORY

Washington will be looking to overturn a seven-match losing streak to the Bruins on Thursday, last defeating UCLA by a 2-1 score line in Seattle in 2015. UCLA leads the all-time series 23-4-2.

LAST MEETING (10/30/22)
THE ANGELS – A trio of second half goals were too much for Washington Dropping its match at No. 1 UCLA (17-1-0, 9-1-0 Pac-12) 3-0 Sunday afternoon.

Summer Yates was unlucky not to give the Huskies a lead within the first two minutes of the match, with her volleyed shot clattering off the left post and staying out as it struck UCLA keeper Lauren Brzykcy.

From there, Washington stuck in defensively, fending off a bevy of Bruin attacks to keep the match scoreless heading into the halftime break.

The Bruins, however, took the lead early in the second half, with Ally Cook finishing from close range to put the home side up 1-0 in the 49th minute.

A few minutes later, Quincy McMahon unleashed a wicked long-distance strike that gave Olivia Sekany no chance to save, doubling the UCLA advantage in the 56th minute.

The Huskies kept up the fight but were unable to break through the stout Bruins defense and Jackie Gilday scored a long distance goal in the 88th minute, capping off the win for UCLA.

WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

After playing 29 total minutes as a freshman a year ago, defender Lucy Newlin has been subbed out of just one match this season, leading UW with 798 minutes.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

Of the 15 collegiate matches that Husky keeper Olivia Juarez has appeared in, eight of them have finished as Washington clean sheets. The junior shot stopper has registered five combined and two solo shutouts in her UW career and has surrendered more than one goal just once.

IT FEELS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME

Washington has had seven first time goal scorers this season as Radisson Banks, Jadyn Holdenried, Chloe Seelhoff, Lucy Newlin, Anna Menti, Ioanna Papatheodorou and Kalea Eichenberger have all found the back of the net for the first time in a Husky kit.

SET IT UP, KNOCK IT DOWN

Half of Washington’s 16 goals this season have come off of set pieces, with four goals coming as the result of corner kicks, two being scored off of free kicks and two penalties being converted.

YOUNG GUNS

Washington has started at least three true freshmen in every match this season, including a pair of starting XIs that featured five rookies. Aside from keeper Olivia Juarez, all but seven starts this season for the Huskies have been made by freshmen and sophomores. 13 of UW’s 16 goals in 2023 have been scored by underclassmen.

MONTLAKE MAGIC

Over the past two seasons, Washington has created a tough environment to play against on its home turf. Since the start of the 2022 season, UW owns a 10-3-2 record at Husky Soccer Stadium.

YOU CAN FIND ME IN DA CLUB

Among Washington’s 15 newcomers for the 2023 season is sophomore Avery Nguyen, who was offered a roster spot during preseason training after a trial. A native of the Kansas City metro area and a former standout for Olathe Northwest High School and Sporting Blue Valley, Nguyen led the UW club team in scoring as a college freshman in 2022.

Starting for the first time in Friday’s matchup with Cal, Nguyen has appeared in six matches for the Huskies this season.

HEY DADDY!

Washington junior Ioanna Papatheodorou has been ranked at No. 92 in TopDrawerSoccer’s annual preseason player rankings. It is the first time that the Greek international has been ranked by the service. It is the fourth-straight season that the Huskies have had a player ranked in the top-100 in the preseason rankings.

FRESH FACES

With 10 of 11 primary starters gone from the 2022 roster, Washington is relying on a bevy of newcomers and returners who played in a reserve role a season ago to replace the production lost.

Gone from the 2022 roster are 27-of-37 goals (73.0%), 31-of-38 assists (81.6%), 85-of-112 points (75.9%), 252-of-312 shots (80.8%) and 43-of-46 saves (93.5%).

Of the 28 players on the Huskies’ roster, just seven are upperclassmen. U Dub boasts 11 freshmen and 10 sophomores on its squad list. Outside of the 17 matches started by Kalea Eichenberger at Cal State Bakersfield in 2022, those 21 underclassmen have recorded just 27 collegiate starts collectively.

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS

Washington had two representatives at the 2022 rendition of the prestigious High School All-American game as true freshmen Maya Loudd and Samiah Shell were both selected to the West Team.

NEW SCHOOL, WHO DIS?

Washington added three transfers to its roster for the 2023 season in forwards Kalea Eichenberger and Ioanna Papatheodorou and goalkeeper Megan Nail.

Eichenberger spent her freshman season at Cal State Bakersfield, earning All-Big West Freshman Team honors. The California native appeared in 20 matches for the Roadrunners, starting the final 17 of the 2022 season. She bagged a team-high four goals, finishing the season with 10 points to pace the UCSB. She was named Big West Player of the Week after securing a brace against Cal Poly.

Papatheodorou joined Washington in the spring after starring for two seasons at UMass Lowell, earning back-to-back First Team All-America East nods. A Greece international, Papatheodorou was named the 2021 America East Striker of the Year after leading UMass Lowell with 10 goals. She followed up in 2022 with another 10-goal campaign, ranking second on the America East.

Nail is a graduate transfer from San Francisco, where she played for four seasons for the Dons, securing the starting role between the posts in 2022. Making the USF Starting XI 14 times on the year, she garnered a 1.23 goals against average. The veteran shot stopper tallied 64 saves for a .790 save percentage, logging five clean sheets.

COWART MAKES HISTORY

This summer, former Husky Jessika Cowart became the sixth former Dawg to make a World Cup roster, joining Hope Solo, Tina Frimpong, Veronica Perez, Mireya Grey and Dominique Bond-Flasza. Representing her mother’s home nation, Cowart suited up for the Philippines National Team after helping the Philippines lift the 2022 AFF Cup. One of the great storylines of the tournament, Cowart started all three matches of the group stage as the Philippines made its first-ever World Cup appearance.

FOR DAWGS AND COUNTRY

This summer, two Huskies represented their home country and donned their nation’s badge as part of their respective national teams. Ioanna Papatheodorou was called into the Greece National Team in July for a pair of friendlies against Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Budapest, Hungary.

Meanwhile, Husky freshman Enora Matté made the squad list for Belgium’s Under-19 team for the 2023 UEFA U19 Championship, receiving one cap during the group stage.

Another freshman on the Dawg’s roster, Daniella Alali was called into the Nigeria U17 Women’s National Team Camp ahead of the 2022 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, but did not attend the camp due to injury.

PROS MADE HERE

Over the past two seasons, Washington has developed 11 different players who have gone on to play at the professional ranks. Following the 2021 campaign, Olivia Van der Jagt was selected in the 3rd round of the NWSL Draft by OL Reign, while Ameera Hussen signed with Icelandic club IBV. Since finishing her Husky career, Jessika Cowart has gone on to ink deals with Çaykur Rizespor (Turkey), Spartak Subotica (Serbia) and IFK Kalmar (Sweden).

10 former Huskies from the 2022 roster are now playing at the professional level. Shae Holmes was drafted in the second round of the NWSL Draft by OL Reign, followed in the fourth round by Summer Yates, who was selected by the Orlando Pride. Olivia Sekany and McKenzie Weinert also signed NWSL contracts with Racing Louisville and OL Reign, respectively.

Overseas, Vanessa Millsaps signed with Liga MX club Pachuca. Cori Sullivan also signed a Liga MX deal with Cruz Azul and has since signed with Glasgow City in Scotland. Evelina Pettersson returned to her native Sweden to play for Trelleborgs FF, while fellow Swedish product Alice Sondergaard has signed with Serie A club Sampdoria. UW has two former players playing in Portugal in Kala McDaniel (Racing Power FC) and Shaye Seyffart (S.F. Damaiense). Following her stint with OL Reign, Weinert has signed on with Melbourne Victory in Australia.

RAPHA’S RETURN

A former standout player and coach for Washington’s men’s soccer team, Raphael Cox returned to Montlake ahead of the 2023 as an assistant coach following one season as a men’s team assistant at San Diego State.

Cox spent three seasons on Jamie Clark’s staff at Washington as volunteer assistant coach from 2019-21. As a player, Cox a two-time All-Pac-12 selection at UW where he played from 2006-2008. After graduating, Cox was selected in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake, where he was part of the MLS Cup Champion squad in 2009.

B1G THINGS COMING

The 2023 season will be Washington’s last in the Pac-12 Conference, with the university announcing in August that it has accepted an invitation to the Big Ten Conference, beginning play in the conference in Fall 2024.

UW was one of the four founding members of what started in December of 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, which eventually grew to become the Pac-12.

HUSKIES PICKED SEVENTH IN PAC-12 PRESEASON POLL

The Pac-12 announced the 2023 Preseason Coaches’ Poll prior to the season, with Washington predicted to match its 2022 finish and place seventh in the league table as voted on by the conference’s 12 head coaches. The Huskies received the same number of votes as both Arizona State and Colorado.

2023 PAC-12 PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL
Team
1. UCLA (9)
2. Stanford (3)
3. USC
4. Cal
5. Washington State
6. Arizona
T7. Washington

T7. Arizona State
T7. Colorado
10. Utah
11. Oregon
12. Oregon State

FOLLOW THE DAWGS!

Fans can keep up with all the goings on around the Washington women’s soccer program by following the Huskies on the team’s various social media platforms. You can find the Dawgs on X at @UW_WSoccer, on Instagram at @uw_wsoccer or on Facebook by searching “Washington Women’s Soccer”. Fans can also follow the Huskies through the women’s soccer page at GoHuskies.com.

2023-09-27 19:30:59


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