Huskies Kickoff LA Road Trip Thursday at USC

Thursday, October 27

Los Angeles, CA

2:00 PM

University of Washington

USC

October 26, 2022 | Women's Soccer

UW Notes USC Notes Watch Live Stats

SEATTLE – With three road matches remaining on the schedule to close out the regular season, Washington continues its quest to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume with a two-match swing to Los Angeles, beginning with a Thursday afternoon matchup with USC.

Thursday's affair will be broadcast live on your television set on the Pac-12 Network, while live stats can be found at HuskyStats.com.

SCOUTING USC
USC is in its first season under rookie head coach Jane Alukonis. Prior to taking over the Trojan program, Alukonis spent four seasons across town in Westwood as an assistant coach at UCLA. Alukonis spent a pair of seasons as the director of operations at her alma mater, Duke, in 2015 and 2016.

The Trojans are third in the Pac-12 table with a 5-1-2 record in league play and a 9-2-3 mark overall. USC drew in both of its matches last week, tying Utah and Colorado on the road.

The USC offense is helmed by senior midfielder, who paces the Trojans in both goals and assists with seven and eight, respectively. Sophomore forward Simone Jackson ranks second on the team in goals with five, while sophomore forward Kayla Colbert has played a role in seven goals, scoring three and setting up four.

Five-year keeper and Sammamish, Washington, native Anna Smith has started all 14 matches between the posts, garnering a 0.67 goals against average with a .820 save percentage on 41 stops.

SERIES HISTORY
USC leads the all-time series with Washington at 16-9-3, including a 12-3-0 mark when facing the Huskies in Los Angeles. Washington's last win over the Trojans came in LA in 2019, a 2-0 UW victory.

LAST MEETING (10/24/21)
SEATTLE - Washington tied No. 5 USC, 2-2, on a wet and rainy Senior Day at Husky Soccer Stadium. The Huskies twice came back from a one-goal deficit to earn the draw with the first-place Trojans. Pre-match, the Huskies honored their 13 academic seniors.

USC opened the scoring in the 30th minute on a goal by Croix Bethune, but UW quickly responded to equalize in the next two minutes. Kala McDaniel played a ball into the box that was flicked on by Summer Yates and Kyla Ferry calmy placed it away.

Olivia Sekany came up big in the first half, recording all five of her saves in the opening 45 minutes, to keep the scoreline level at the break.

USC once again took a lead in the 65th minute when Bethune found the back of the net for her second goal of the day. However, UW showed no quit yet again, quickly responding to tie the contest at 2-2 in the 68th minute.

This time McKenzie Weinert was the one to equalize, after running onto a beautiful pass from Yates and Weinert powerfully blasted it past the keeper.

FLARE FOR THE DRAMATIC
Washington created some late-game magic on Montlake to stun Arizona State 2-1 in Sunday's Senior Day match. The Huskies scored twice in the final four minutes to flip the script on the Sun Devils, with Karlee Stueckle netting the game-winner in the 90th minute to send the home stands into a frenzy.

It was the first 90th-minute game winner for the Huskies since snatching a late 2-1 win over rival Washington State in 2020. The scorer of the winning goal in that match? Karlee Stueckle.

KEEPING IT 100
Washington had two players appear in TopDrawerSoccer.com's Top-100 Rankings, with Summer Yates coming in at No. 46 overall and Kolo Suliafu being tabbed at No. 35 in the top-100 freshmen rankings.

WHEN IT MATTERS MOST
Transferring from fellow Pac-12 member Oregon State, McKenzie Weinert has taken that experience and made it pay off for the Huskies. Of the seven goals Weinert has scored since transferring to UW in 2021, six have come against Pac-12 opponents.

HISTORY MADE
When she laced up her boots in UW's match at Cal, fifth-year senior Summer Yates made history. No player in the history of the Washington program has donned a Husky kit more times than Yates, who set the career games played record with her 87th appearance.

Yates also ranks inside the top-5 in both goals and assists at UW, sitting at No. 5 with 26 career goals and No. 4 with 22 career assists.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Washington's 38 assists are good for the 18th most in the nation and second most in the Pac-12. The Huskies have recorded at least one assist on 26 of their 36 goals on the season, including multiple helpers 12 times.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Washington's scoring output has come from up and down its roster, with 13 different Huskies scoring a goal. Summer Yates leads the pack with six goals, With Karlee Stueckle one back with five this season. Kyla Ferry, Hailey Still and McKenzie Weinert are all close behind with four apiece. The Huskies rank fourth in the Pac-12 with 36 goals despite being one of just four teams in the league without a player with more than six goals scored.