In their first road contest of the season, the Seattle University women's soccer fell on the short end at No. 24 University of Washington Wednesday evening. Despite taking an early 1-0 lead, cross-town rival Washington was able to edge the Redhawks 2-1 for their first loss of the season. SeattleU falls to 2-1 on the year, while Washington posts their first victory in their season opener.
"Tonight we played a very tough team in Washington," said head coach Julie Woodward. "It is disappointing to come out on the losing end, but I think we played very well. It was a good experience to play and keep up with a team of that caliber."
After getting the starting kick off, the Redhawks were unsuccessful in pushing the ball forward into the UW half as Washington took it directly into the Seattle half. The SU defense pressured the Huskies frontal attack and booted the ball out to keep Washington's strikers at bay for the Redhawks to push the ball deep into the Washington half. Senior Jamie Coe took it deep into the UW end and fired off a shot that was subsequently blocked. Midfielder Kassandra Riozzi took the resulting corner kick and Coe got her head on it. The Duvall, Wash. native perfectly fired in a header to the far left post to take an immediate 1-0 Redhawk lead at the 3:21 minute mark. Coe's header was the fasted goal scored for SU in 2009. The senior tri-captain is now three goals away from breaking into the top-10 all-time leading goal scorers in SeattleU history with 16 career goals.
Minutes later the Huskies looked to respond, as Veronica Perez crossed in a ball between the SU defenders, but Kelli Stewart's contact went just wide of the post. With an early 1-0 lead to defend, Washington put on the offensive pressure and created several give-and-go plays, but SeattleU maintained their composure against the towering Huskies.
In the 14th minute M'ily Reiter was fouled just outside the box. Riozzi took the free kick and sailed a shot perfectly over the Washington wall. At the last second UW's goalkeeper Kari Davidson extended out and was able to make a save to prevent SU from going up 2-0.
In the 28th minute, the Huskies' Perez saw the brightest chances of evening the score in the first half as she slammed in a shot aimed for right under the crossbar. Redhawk 'keeper Madison Goverde timed out the ball perfectly to tip it just above the bar.
Midway through the first half freshman Taylor Bolibol entered the game for Reiter. The freshman central midfielder created several plays and moved the ball up and down the field. She showed a lot of composure and grit in her first game against a ranked powerhouse opponent.
Despite the early lead in the first half, the Huskies were relentless on the Seattle defense. With the clock winding down to halftime UW had a free kick about 20 yards out. The ball flew to the far right post and Goverde was able to land her fingers on the ball to tip it outside the goal to send Seattle into intermission with a one-goal advantage.
After leading by a score, SeattleU was unable to get any other solid shots on goal. After reaching the ball to the back of the net, SU managed only five shots in the game and three on goal. On the other end of the field, the Redhawk 'keeper was very busy between the pipes, as Washington had 21 total shots and nine on goal in the game.
Washington began the second half by taking the ball immediately down the Redhawk line; however Jordan Salisbury was able to track down the Husky striker and cut her off to kick the ball out of bounds for a UW corner kick. After mimicking the start of the first half, SU managed to once again recover from the quick offensive spurt of the Huskies.
Things broke down shortly after for Seattle. On a misread play by the Redhawk defense, Washington's Alex Webber crossed a ball right in front of the SU goal and Perez was able to make contact on it and tie the game at one-all. After the host team was able to even the score, SU appeared to be jilted. They were frenzied to get the ball out of their half, and could not create the eloquent runs and passes they managed in the first half.
A little over 10 minutes later Washington scored what would be the game-winning goal when Kendyl Pele knocked in a ball in front of the SU goal. Goverde came out to try to grab it, but UW's Alex Kirk met it first and flicked it into the goal over SeattleU's 'keeper to take a 2-1 advantage.
Seattle was unable to counter back and send the ball to the back of the net; however they never gave up. Several bright spots were apparent in the game, as Woodward and the coaching staff were able to see what their team was made of. They possessed the ability to play at the level of nationally ranked teams and stay in games, even if the scoreboard or statistics did not reflect their efforts.
Today's game also saw several firsts, as freshman Liana Heberer earned her first career start in the midfield for the Redhawks. Also getting her first start, after missing 2008 with an injury, was forward Sarah Dean. Late in the first period, sophomore Brynn Watanabe made her collegiate debut on the backline. She helped orchestrate some solid plays at outside right back. The Bellevue, Wash. native played the entire second half, after not seeing minutes during her rookie campaign in 2008.
SeattleU returns to the pitch on Friday, Aug. 28, as they travel to Moscow, Idaho to face off with Utah Valley in a neutral sited match. The game will be played at 4 p.m. PT at the University of Idaho's Guy Wicks Field.