Coming into this weekend, Seattle U tied Creighton for most wins in the nation throughout the postseason and ranked second in goals and sixth in points in the nation. Winning their second Western Athletic Conference title in three years, the Redhawks advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in Division I history. Last weekend, SU also hosted their first NCAA DI tournament game, a 1-0 win vs. perennial powerhouse UCLA.
“Syracuse executed well and you could tell they’d been to this spot in the NCAA tournament before,” said head coach Pete Fewing. “We couldn’t quite get ourselves going and that was due to their tough pressure. Kudos to them for playing the way they did and for finishing their chances.”
Miles Robinson gave Syracuse an early lead just 90 seconds into the game on a header off a corner kick by Liam Callahan before Callahan assisted his second of the game, serving the ball into the box for Noah Rhynhart to give the Orange a 2-0 lead.
David Olsen (Auburn, Wash.) had several of the game’s first chances, including a shot impressively saved by Hendrik Hilpert in the 40th minute. A free kick from Sam Langston (Sammamish, Wash.) sailed just over the net less than 10 minutes after halftime, creating another serious opportunity for the Redhawks early in the second half.
Olsen cut the Redhawk deficit in half with an unassisted goal midway through the second half, trailing 2-1, but the Orange’s Kamal Miller would put Syracuse up, 3-1, off a free kick from Julian Buescher.
“It was a great season for the university and it’s opened some eyes in Seattle as well as from recruits from around the world,” Fewing concluded. “We were very pleased to get here but our plan was to advance. I don’t think there’s a guy in that locker room who thinks this was good enough, but it’s been very good for our program. Beating UCLA was a big shot in the arm as is coming here to play Syracuse. We would’ve liked to have gone further but I think there’s a sense that we can play.”
The Redhawks finish the season 3-0 vs. the Pac-12 as well as 3-1 vs. ranked teams, defeating No. 10 Washington and No. 13 Oregon State during the regular season as well as No. 25 UCLA in last weekend’s Second Round.
SU says goodbye to their four member graduating class in Michael Roberts (Issaquah, Wash.), Shane Haworth (Puyallup, Wash.), Hamza Haddadi (Shoreline, Wash.), and Austin Sweeney (Federal Way, Wash.). Haddadi ends his career in Seattle U’s top 10 in all-time goals and points while Haworth’s 10 shutouts this season broke his own Division I record.
The Redhawks look forward to improvement and advancing further in the 2016 NCAA Tournament as they return a large number of impactful starters.
Stay tuned to GoSeattleU.com as well as Facebook (Seattle U Athletics), Twitter (@su_athletics; @SeattleU_MSO), Instagram (su_redhawks), and Snapchat (su_athletics) for all the latest updates on the team through the offseason.