“First and foremost, I want to give a lot of credit to the University of Washington,” said head coach Julie Woodward. “They had previously only won a couple games and you could tell they were hungry and they finished well. Interestingly enough, I thought there were 20 minutes or so in the first half where we had some of the best attacking sequences I’ve seen. But we were playing a very experienced team, and we need to play all 90 minutes. Heading into the conference schedule, we need to take what we learned here, find the things we need to improve on, and do them.”
Seattle U had two early opportunities to score, the first as Mary Hill drove the ball down the left side, passing to Stephanie Verdoia (Salt Lake City, Utah) in the middle, but the shot sailed over the goal.
A minute later, Verdoia passed the ball from the middle to Kat Prati (Moorpark, Calif.) on the right side, who kicked the ball into the net, but SU was called offsides, as the score remained tied at zero.
In the 15th minute, Washington broke through and took the lead as McKenzie Karas headed the ball in off a corner kick by Isabel Farrell.
Allie Beahan added a goal for the Dawgs in the 19th minute, as she drove the ball into a wide open right side after receiving the ball from Lindsey Bos.
In the 23rd minute, Becca Schoales received a cross from Farrell, controlling the ball and shooting it into the net to put the Huskies ahead, 3-0, at halftime.
In the 50th minute, Jaclyn Softli chipped the ball in over Brianna Smallidge (Port Orchard, Wash.), assisted by Farrell to increase the score.
Washington’s final goal came 10 minutes later in the 60th minute as Softli flicked the ball to Christina Archer for the score on a corner kick by Farrell.
Smallidge played all 90 minutes in goal for the Redhawks, recording four saves. Megan Kufeld and Sarah Shimer shared time in goal for the Huskies, recording two and one save apiece, respectively.
Ava Ames (Seattle, Wash.) and Verdoia each recorded two shots for Seattle U. As a team, Washington outshot Seattle U, 16-6.
Seattle U (2-2-2) has a full week until their next competition, hosting Grand Canyon in their Western Athletic Conference home opener next Friday, Sept. 20 at 4:30 p.m. The Seattle U men’s team will hold their regular season home opener versus Georgia State at 2 p.m. in a doubleheader.