Huskies Denied NCAA Bid
November 16, 2015 | Men's Soccer
SEATTLE – Despite finishing third in the Pac-12, arguably the toughest conference in the nation, Washington was denied an NCAA bid this season. The 48-team field was announced Monday morning and for the first time in four years, the Dawgs will not play in the postseason.
The Huskies finished with a record of 8-5-6 and 4-3-3 in the Pac-12. There 15 points in the Pac-12 table was just one behind UCLA who placed second in the conference. Stanford won the league with 23 points, while Cal (14 points), Oregon State (10 points) and San Diego State (7 points) rounded out the bottom of the league.
Despite five Pac-12 teams being ranked in the top-25 at one point this season, only Stanford and UCLA were selected to the NCAA Tournament. It ends a streak of three-straight NCAA appearances for the Huskies under Jamie Clark with each team winning at least one tournament game. The Dawgs had second round, elite eight and sweet sixteen runs over the past three years.
The announcement ends a frustrating season for the Dawgs, who clearly had what it takes to advance, but missed opportunities, injuries and bad luck led to just eight wins.
The Huskies came into the season, needing to replace four players (Darwin Jones, Spencer Richey, Cristian Roldan, Andy Thoma) who had moved on to MLS, but still had a strong returning core.
Unfortunately, injury hit both of Washington's preseason all-conference players as James Moberg played only the first six games of the season, while Mason Robertson saw limited action in 10 games, playing just 16 percent of the total minutes of the year.
Still, the Huskies got strong performances from the senior class led by Ryan Herman who is the favorite to earn Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. Herman had 10 shutouts in goal, while leading the Pac-12 in saves with 85 and goals against average at 0.63. Other key senior contributors that will be lost to graduation were midfielders Michael Gallagher and Ian Lange, along with winger Josh Heard.
Despite the losses, the Dawgs are in good shape be right back in the mix for a Pac-12 title and NCAA Tournament run as they return plenty of talent. The backline on Justin Schmidt, Quentin Pearson, Luke Hauswirth and Justin Fiddes that allowed only 13 goals all season will return intact.
Also returning is Robertson who scored the game-winner in the finale at Oregon State and hopefully can have a healthy senior year. The 2015 season also saw the emergence of sophomore Henry Wingo in the midfield and redshirt freshman Kyle Coffee in an attacking role. They should be fixtures with the Huskies looking ahead to next season.
