“If you take the result away, I couldn’t be more proud of the team’s style of soccer and maturity tonight,” said head coach Julie Woodward. “The UW is always a well-coached team and I thought we were ready for the game. We had our chances and opportunities and it could’ve gone either way and our whole thing today was to play the whole 90 minutes. You can never be happy with a loss, but I’m just really proud.”
The Redhawks and Huskies remained tied through the first half, as Taylor Ritzman (Holladay, Utah) had a couple of good chances early in the 16th minute and again just over a minute later.
Isabelle Butterfield (Bellevue, Wash.) added a shot soon thereafter before UW struck four straight, but two sailed far and wide and one earned Brianna Smallidge (Port Orchard, Wash.) a key save.
In the 53rd minute, SU earned a penalty kick as one of the Redhawks was taken down in the box. Stephanie Verdoia (Salt Lake City, Utah) took the kick, but Megan Kufeld came up with a game preserving save as the match remained scoreless.
The Huskies would take the 1-0 lead on what would prove to be the game-winner in the 66th minute as Kimberly Keever beat out Smallidge after a cross by Amanda Perez.
Butterfield’s shot in the 73rd minute nearly entered the net as it hit the right post and Natasha Howe (Mission Viejo, Calif.)’s shot in the 85th minute sailed just wide, but the Redhawks would ultimately fall, 1-0.
In goal, Kufeld made three saves while Smallidge made four. UW outshot SU, 20-13 and the teams earned an equal amount of corner kicks with three apiece.
Seattle U remains home for a pair of matches next weekend, including an NCAA Tournament rematch vs. Portland on Thursday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. and their Western Athletic Conference home opener vs. Utah Valley on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 12 noon.
Stay tuned to all the latest on the team on GoSeattleU.com as well as Facebook (Seattle U Athletics; Seattle U Women’s Soccer), Twitter (@su_athletics; @seattleuwsoc), and Instagram (su_redhawks; seattleuwsoc).