“Today was a big game for us,” said head coach Julie Woodward. “Our mentality couldn’t have been better and we were ready to play from the start. The state of Utah was very kind to its hometown kids as [Taylor] Ritzman and Stephanie [Verdoia] scored two really great goals. Our back line of Kiana [Kraft], Kelly [Beck], [Stephanie] Spiekerman, and Celia [Vaughn] played extremely solid and our freshman midfield of Isabelle [Butterfield] and Isabella [Guerry] were special today. It was a really great team win and winning back to back [regular season] championships is tough, so I’m very proud of them.”
The Redhawks put the game away in just the opening three minutes of play and were able to play solid defense as they earned the shutout.
Stephanie Verdoia (Salt Lake City, Utah) scored what would be the game winner just 40 seconds in on an assist by Taylor Ritzman (Holladay, Utah). Ritzman would add an insurance goal in the third minute on a rebound off a shot by Julia Moravec (Spokane, Wash.).
The Redhawks allowed only five shots by the Wolverine, with no shots on goal, taking 16 shots of their own, nine on goal.
In goal, Brianna Smallidge (Port Orchard, Wash.) earned the complete game shutout for the Redhawks while Jessica Duffin allowed both goals, making seven saves for the Wolverines.
With her game-winning goal, Verdoia is just one goal away from tying the single season Seattle U goals record (Verdoia currently has 19, record is 20).
The WAC Tournament bracket will be officially set on Sunday after all teams finish regular season competition. Stay tuned to GoSeattleU.com as well as Facebook (Seattle U Athletics; Seattle U Women’s Soccer), Twitter (@su_athletics; @seattleuwsoc), and Instagram (su_redhawks; seattleuwsoc).
The Western Athletic Conference tournament will be held at Championship Field in Seattle, Wash. from Nov. 6-7, 9. All-session passes are now on sale with pricing information as well as the opportunity to buy on www.goseattleu.com/sutickets or by calling the Redhawk Ticket office at (206) 398-GOSU.