Huskies Host Seattle U in NCAA Opening Round

Thursday, November 16

Seattle, Wash.

6:00 PM

University of Washington

Seattle

Tickets

November 15, 2017 | Men's Soccer

Tickets Game Notes (PDF)

SEATTLE --- Washington opens the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night with a home match against cross-town rival Seattle University at 6:00 p.m. at the Husky Soccer Stadium. The Huskies earned a return trip to the tournament after posting a 12-6-1 regular-season record, making their fifth trip to the tourney in seven years under Jamie Clark. Overall, the Huskies are Washington saw its three-match winning streak snapped in its season finale, falling 4-3 at Oregon State.

The Huskies have been dominate at home this season, posting a 9-3-0 record at Husky Soccer Stadium including a 3-1-0 record against ranked teams. Recently, Washington scored a big 3-0 victory over No. 17 California in its final home match of the regular season.

Seattle University Redhawks At A Glance
Seattle U wrapped up its third WAC title in five years with a 2-1 victory over San Jose State in the WAC Championship on Sunday. The victory improved the Redhawks to 14-3-4 on the season. Sergio Rivas leads the talented offense with seven goals while Alex Roldan is close behind with six. Josh Adachi has been in goal for every minute of the Redhawks' season, posting a 0.77 goals against average and 10 shutouts.

Series History
Washington leads the all-time series 43-6-5, though much of that came before Seattle University returned to the NCAA Division I ranks in 2009. Since then, the Huskies are 7-1-1 against their cross-town rivals including a perfect 5-0-0 record at Husky Soccer Stadium. Washington downed Seattle 2-0 earlier this season at Seattle U. In 2013, the Huskies beat the Redhawks 4-2 at UW in the only playoff meeting in the series.

You've Got To Hand It To Him
Handwalla Bwana continues to lead the Washington offense, scoring a pair of goals at Oregon State last week. The sophomore now leads the team with 8 goals and 22 points (8g, 6a) and has recorded a point in 10 of 18 points this season. Bwana, the 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, ranks second in the Pac-12 in goal and points, third in assists (6) and is tied for the lead in shots with 55. During Washington's six-match win streak earlier this season, Bwana had a hand in nine of the 19 goals scored, recording five goals and four assists.

It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Right
Washington's loss at Oregon State was their first defeat when scoring at least two goals in a match. The Huskies are now 10-1-0 when scoring at least two goals and are 2-5-1 when scoring two or fewer. The pattern has been reversed in the last three games as Washington won a pair of 1-0 games in Southern California, then lost a 4-3 game to close out the season.

That's Just Offensive, Man
Washington continued its strong offensive season with its three goals on Thursday at Oregon State. Through Sunday, Washington ranks second in the Pac-12 and 19th in the NCAA with 38 goals, averaging 2.00 per game. The 38 goals matches the most in a season since 2014 and is the tied for the fourth most since 2000. The Huskies have scored at least three goals in a match seven times this season.

Caution! Hot Coffee!
Kyle Coffee added to his goal total with a second-half goal at Oregon State. It gives the redshirt-junior a career-high five on the season. Coffee, who missed significant time due to injury this season, scored three of UW's four goals in the Huskies home games against Cal and Stanford and recorded his first goal of the season against San Diego State on October 5, seeing his first significant action this season.

Stable Starters
Three Washington players have started all 18 matches this season: Quentin Pearson, Luke Hauswirth and Justin Fiddes. Pearson's streak will come to an end this week, though as he misses the first game of the NCAA tournament due to card accumulation. Justin Fiddes leads the Huskies with 1,621 minutes played, sitting just 114 minutes this year, but is just one minute ahead of Hauswirth (1,620). Five players have recorded over 1,500 minutes (Fiddes, Saif Kerawala, Hauswirth, Garret Jackson, and Pearson) while 13 players have seen action in at least 17 matches.

Ranked Opponents
Washington is 4-2-1 in its six matches against ranked opponents this season after a big win over No. 17 Cal on October 22. The Huskies have also recorded wins over No. 20 New Mexico (2-1), No. 22 Gonzaga (3-0), No. 24 Seattle U (2-0) and also played to a draw with No. 8 Stanford (1-1). Washington has lost to No. 6 Stanford (2-1) and to No. 24 Akron (2-0).

Help Me Out Here Blake
Blake Bodily recorded assists on two of Washington's three goals against Cal on October 22, giving him seven for the season. The freshman now leads the team and ranks second in the conference with those seven helpers and leads all Pac-12 freshmen with 13 points (3g, 7a). The pair of points were his first since putting together an impressive run with two goals and four assists over three matches including scoring a goal and adding an assist in back-to-back games against Drexel and Santa Clara.

Spreading It Around
Eleven different Huskies have scored a goal this year while 16 of the 17 field players to see at least 100 minutes on the pitch have recorded a point. Handwalla Bwana leads the team with eight goals while Scott Menzies is one behind at seven. Jaret Townsend was the latest to add his name to the list, scoring his first collegiate goal at UCLA.

Running Out Of Hats
Washington has tallied two hat tricks already on the season after not recording a hat trick since 2013 (Taylor Peay vs. Santa Clara). There have been 25 hat tricks in all of NCAA Division I this season with the Dawgs recording two of them. Bwana netted the first hat trick of the season with three goals against Santa Clara. Menzies then followed with a hat trick in the very next match, tallying three times against Utah Valley.

Pac-12 All-Conference Selections
Washington had seven players named to the All-Pac-12 team including Blake Bodily, who earned First-Team honors and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Handwalla Bwana joined him on the First-Team after finishing second in the Pac-12 in points with 22 (8g, 6a) and goals with 8. Redshirt-junior forward Kyle Coffee, senior defender Garrett Jackson, junior defender Quentin Pearson and redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Saif Kerawala received second-team recognition while senior defenseman Justin Fiddes earned honorable mention honors.