DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Seattle University faces the same two teams it saw last weekend, with UNLV and CSU Bakersfield making the trip to the Pacific Northwest to face the Redhawks. Seattle U will be looking for better results as it closes the first half of the conference schedule. The Friday match against UNLV will be the second of a Redhawk soccer doubleheader, while the Sunday contest will raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Washington.
LAST WEEKEND: Seattle University took its first road trip outside of the city since early September with matches at UNLV and at CSU Bakersfield. Last Friday night in Las Vegas, the Rebels controlled the offensive play throughout, outshooting the Redhawks, 19-8, on their way to a 3-0 victory. Jake Feener was credited with five saves in the loss, and Miguel Gonzalez took half of the team's shots in the match. Sunday afternoon in Bakersfield, Hamza Haddadi scored on a penalty kick just 1:08 into the match, but three goals by CSU Bakersfield later in the first half allowed the Roadrunners to take control as they held on for a 4-3 victory. Haddadi scored again in the second half to cut the Redhawk deficit in half, but CSU Bakersfield answered right away to reestablish a two-goal advantage. Brady Ballew scored in the 67th minute to once again make the match a one-goal affair, but the Roadrunners were able to hold off the Redhawks the rest of the way. CSU Bakersfield enjoyed a 20-11 shot advantage, led by eight shots by Gyasi Zardes. Ballew finished with four total shots for Seattle U, while all three of Haddadi's shots were on net. Feener finished the match with seven saves.
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Sunday, the Seattle University men's soccer team will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the program in 1967. Also, the 1997 men's soccer team that won the NAIA National Championship, the first-ever team national title in Seattle U athletics history, will be honored.
NCAA RANKINGS: Redhawk goalie Jake Feener is fourth in the country in saves per game, averaging 6.29 saves per match. As a team, Seattle University is fourth in Division I in saves per game with 6.44.
CYSTIC FIBROSIS AWARENESS: This Sunday, Oct. 14, the Seattle University men's soccer team will face CSU Bakersfield at Championship Field beginning at 1 p.m. The team has asked that it be designated the Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Game, giving Redhawk fans a chance to learn more about the disease and to make donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Washington. It is all due to one special person who joined Pete Fewing's program 10 years ago and made a significant impact with his courage and drive.
Steve Jenkins was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of two. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections, and obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.
Jenkins came to Seattle University in 2002 and joined Pete Fewing's men's soccer team, but his health began to decline. After taking part in the 2004 National Championship season, Jenkins was forced to stop playing soccer. He underwent a successful double-lung transplant in 2007, but he was then diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008. After undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and a stem cell transplant, Jenkins received the good news that the cancer was in remission, and he started taking college classes again online.
In 2009, Jenkins was hit with pneumonia and swine flu simultaneously, causing the lungs he had received just two years earlier to go into rejection. He was put back on the transplant list for a second double-lung transplant in June 2011, and he has been waiting for that transplant ever since. Currently, his lung capacity is at 22%. He is taking one class at Seattle U and is 11 classes away from receiving his degree in forensic psychology.
Everyone is hopeful that Jenkins will be healthy enough to attend Sunday's match and participate in the ceremonial captain's coin toss. Seattle Times sports columnist Steve Kelley wrote about Jenkins's battle in 2008. That story can be found at the following link: http://www.goseattleu.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18200&ATCLID=205707966.