Huskies Host WSU For Senior Night
November 04, 2015 | Women's Soccer
SEATTLE – UW women's soccer will conclude its regular season by hosting in-state rival Washington St. in the Apple Cup of women's soccer this Thursday, Nov. 5. The match will also serve as Senior Night for the Class of 2015, which includes Allyson Brahs, Tori Burns, Katey Fawcett, McKenzie Karas and Megan Kufeld.
“This time of year, we can get distracted and our energy level can drop just because of the long haul of the season,” UW head coach Lesle Gallimore said. “They've got to find that renewed sense of urgency. We have a lot of faith in this group and we have confidence that they'll get it right and put their best foot forward on Thursday.”
The Huskies and Cougars have squared off 24 times, every year since the UW women's soccer program's creation in 1991. The Huskies are 7-11-6 all-time against WSU and have not beaten the Cougars since 2003. UW is 0-7-4 against WSU over that span. Last year's matchup ended in a 1-1 draw after two overtime periods in Pullman.
The Huskies (12-5-2, 5-4-1 Pac-12) are led by sophomore Shannon Simon's seven goals and five assists, and fellow sophomore Kimby Keever has contributed six goals. The duo scored a goal apiece to bring the Huskies back from a one-goal deficit in UW's last victory, a 2-1 overtime victory over Oregon St.
Junior midfielder and team captain Amanda Perez has four goals and two assists, and freshman forward Kelcie Hedge has three goals and two assists. Rachel Wheeler has two goals and four assists, and five Huskies have a goal apiece to round out the UW goal-scorers this season. Wheeler and junior defender Havana McElvaine have four assists each, tied for second-most on the team.
The Husky defense is a senior-laden group led by Kufeld in goal, and center backs Brahs and McKenzie Karas. UW has six shutouts this season.
“We are feeling good and we are excited to get back on the field,” Karas said. “Especially as seniors, we want to play for the family that we've created here at Washington within this team. We know WSU is a great team, but we have our usual 1-0 mentality and we just want to play hard and produce the best performance that we can.”
The Huskies are coming off a weekend split in Oregon, falling to the Ducks in overtime following the Huskies' victory over OSU.
“I don't think this team is satisfied with how they've played over the last few games,” head coach Lesle Gallimore said. “We want to keep the ball for longer stretches and be more dangerous in front of the goal, and we want to have a 90-minute focus on our team defending. Those three things have been huge for us.”
The Cougars are coming off a two-win weekend, beating Oregon and OSU on the road. WSU is currently sitting in fourth place in the Pac-12 standings with a record of 6-4-0 and an overall record of 13-5-0 on the season.
Junior Kaitlyn Johnson leads the team in points and is tied for most goals, with six goals and five assists for a total of 17 points. Freshman Kourtney Guetlein also has six goals and four assists. Cara Wegner has four goals and three assists and leads the team with 62 shots. Three Cougars have two goals each on the year and five have a goal apiece.
The game will kick off at 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. In-game updates will also be provided on Twitter at @UW_WSoccer and through the live stats page on GoHuskies.com.
For more on UW women's soccer, follow the Huskies on Facebook and on Snapchat, Periscope, Twitter and Instagram at @UW_WSoccer.
