Washington men's soccer is celebrating World Cup/International Night as the team hosts UCLA on Thursday night at Husky Soccer Stadium. Fans are encouraged to wear gear of their favorite professional or international team with events centered around the recent World Cup featured throughout the night.ย
The Huskies took part in their own international competition this summer, representing the United States at the FISUย America Games in Brazil.ย
Let's take a look back at that trip with this story by Mark Moschettiย which appeared in the GoHuskiesย Magazine.
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GOLDEN BOYS Washington's men's soccer team earned gold for the U.S. in Brazil this summer โ but they came back with more than just a medal
By MARK MOSCHETTI
They came home glittering in gold. But, to the players on the University of Washington men's soccer team, that was just a nice bonus from their trip to Brazil.
As the Huskies see it, they returned from Sao Paulo with some other things from the inaugural International University Sports Federation (FISU) America Games that might ultimately prove even more significant than those shiny championship medals.
They returned with an even greater level of trust in each other.
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"Everybody took big strides," redshirt senior midfielder/defender Luke Hauswirth says. "We had two freshman guys come in and they outperformed expectations. I was impressed in how much our mindset was locked in. We had no doubt about anyone on the field."
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After six games in 12 days, including four tournament contests in eight days, they returned with a keener ability to focus on the game at hand.
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"We were all exhausted," says redshirt junior goalkeeper Saif Kerawala, who earned the shutout in Washington's 1-0 gold-medal win against host Brazil. "We ended up sitting back and playing pretty defensive, but we all bought in. Everyone was disciplined for the entire 90 minutes. For us to grind out a victory like that was great."
Perhaps most of all, those UW players and coaches returned with a renewed appreciation for what they have right here in Seattle.
"Fields, facilities, language, the people around us โ you realize how fortunate you are to show up and play on a nice field," says assistant coach Richard Reece, who was in charge of the team for the last portion of the trip after head coach Jamie Clark had leave early for family reasons. "For me, it will be more appreciated."
Still, for all those intangibles, the Huskies returned with that most tangible of things: the gold medal.
"Walking away with the gold was the cherry on top," Clark says. "We were presented with an opportunity, and we made the very most of it. That's the best way to show your gratitude to the alumni, donors and supporters โ to make the most of every second you're there."
Adds Hauswirth, "Our goal was definitely to win the gold, and we thought we had a pretty good shot. We had 10 days of training, we're a very close team, we trust each other, and we're talented."
GETTING THE GO-AHEAD
FISU is the worldwide governing body of university sport. It is best known for putting on the World University Games, which take place every other year (odd-numbered years).
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Receiving the Gold
Earlier this year, the America Games organizing group approached the Pac-12 Conference about the possibility of having one of its soccer teams participate in Brazil.
But, as Clark explained, it didn't look promising at first.
"The way the rules work, it was not going to be permissible, because NCAA rules say you have to be back from your foreign trip 30 days before preseason starts," Clark says. (The tournament concluded on July 28; Washington's first practice was on Aug. 7.)
The organizers still wanted a top Pac-12 team, which the Huskies certainly are, having gone to the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. Clark worked to help them understand the rules, "and we basically got to a point where, if they went to the NCAA and got this deemed a U.S. national team event, then a team could travel.
"It pays to communicate," Clark adds.
Everything was now officially a "go" for their mid-July departure.
"It was a unique challenge for us," Kerawala says. "As a team, we had a couple players who had never been involved in our team, just young freshmen. We had to adjust to the atmosphere, the pitch style, the referees, other teams, other challenges โฆ We were forced to focus on ourselves more than anything, and I think we did a great job doing that."
Added Clark, "I didn't know what the tournament was going to be about. But, one thing I knew is it would be fun and exciting. It was a collaboration of sport and other countries, all in an Olympic village situation. It was going to be a cool experience, no matter how good or bad the games were."
The games were good.
The "B" group included U.S. representative Washington, Mexico, and the No. 2 Brazil team. All three finished at 0-0-2 (UW tied No. 2 Brazil, 2-2, and Mexico, 1-1). The Huskies earned the No. 1 seed to the semifinals on the basis of fewest disciplinary cards.
"We were dominant in those first two games, but we gave up leads," Clark says. "These guys felt they deserved better."
It was a way different story after that. Joey Parish scored twice, Scott Menzies and Blake Bodily added one apiece, and Washington cruised past Uruguay in the semifinals, 4-0. Then, facing host Brazil, Kyle Coffee headed home a cross in the 10th minute, enough for the 1-0 win and the gold.
"That semifinal, everything truly did click," assistant coach Reece says. "It was nice to see the freedom the guys played with after the first 30 minutes. From the coaching side, the final was very rewarding. Playing six games in a short period of time, to see them be mature enough and intelligent enough and control their surroundings, they found patience and really managed and controlled the game."
Now, it's down to the business of the season at hand. Washington's returning players accounted for 26 of last year's 40 goals, led by Menzies with seven and Coffee with six.
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The Huskies Celebrate After Scoring in the Gold Medal Match
The first of eight straight non-conference outings was played Friday, Aug. 24, at home against Maryland โ UW's 1,000th all-time game. The Pac-12 docket started at Oregon State on Saturday, Sept. 29. The heart of the schedule could be in October, with back-to-back weekends against Stanford and California, the two teams that finished ahead of UW last fall.
ย "The Pac-12 is up in the air โ every game is such difficult competition," Kerawala says. "There are no days off."
Hauswirth believes this summer's experience could be a boost.
"I think we'll be able to start off on a better foot," he says. "Now, we're at a point where expectations are higher from the get-go because we've had all these games together
