Soccer Dawgs Hit the Road for Idaho

Sunday, August 20

Moscow, ID

1:00 PM

University of Washington

Idaho

August 19, 2023 | Women's Soccer

UW Notes Idaho Notes Watch Live Stats

MOSCOW, Idaho – Coming off of a 0-0 draw against Houston in it's season-opener, the Washington women's soccer team hits the road for the first time in 2023, taking on Idaho at the Kibbie Dome Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. PT.

Fans can stream the affair through ESPN+. Links to live coverage can be found to the right and on the schedule page at GoHuskies.com.

SCOUTING IDAHO
Jeremy Clevenger is in his sixth season as the head coach at Idaho, bringing the Vandals to the precipice of the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament bid, falling on penalties in the Big Sky Championship game in 2022.

Returning the bulk of the roster from a side that finished 12-3-3, Idaho is off to a 1-0-0 start to the young season, defeating SeattleU 3-1 at the Kibbie Dome on Thursday. The Vandals narrowly outshot the Redhawks 13-12, with each side registering seven attempts on frame.

The Vandals return 10-of-11 primary starters from a season ago, including 2022 All-Big Sky standouts Cassidy Elicker, Maddy Lasher, Alyssa Peters, Rebekah Reyes, Margo Schoesler and Jayd Sprague. Annika Farley, Jadyn Hanks and Izzy Thoma all found the back of the net in the Vandals' season opening victory over SeattleU.

In goal, Idaho is led by star sophomore Kira Witte returns after earning 2022 Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors. Witte tied for the nation's lead with 13 shutouts last season, posting a 1.00 goals against average and a .857 save percentage.

SERIES HISTORY
Despite the relative proximity of the two schools, Sunday's match will be just the second all-time between the Huskies and Vandals. The only previous matchup occurred over two decades ago in 2001, a 4-0 Washington victory in Seattle.

LAST MEETING (9/9/01)
SEATTLE - Then-freshman forward Tina Frimpong tallied the first three goals for the Huskies, including a score just over one minute into the match, leading the eighth-ranked Washington women to a 4-0 victory over Idaho in the home opener at Husky Soccer Field.

Frimpong opened the scoring 1:20 into the game on a pass from Jaime Carstensen who registered her fourth assist in as many games. Frimpong drove a low liner off the left post and into the goal for her first collegiate score.

Frimpong's other two goals were unassisted. She scored on a 17-yard blast at 33:48 to give UW a 2-0 lead it would take into halftime. In the second half, Frimpong connected on a 20-yard liner into the upper right corner at 67:28 to secure the 12th hat trick in Husky history and only the second by a freshman.

Junior defender Vanessa Pierce capped the scoring at 70:43 on a 10-yard header off a cross from senior Caroline Putz.

Sophomore goalkeeper Lisa Walker made her second collegiate start and recorded her second shutout by making four saves.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Six Huskies made their first collegiate start in Thursday's 0-0 draw against Houston, including three true freshmen in Radisson Banks, Maya Loudd and Enora Matté. In all, seven rookies saw their first collegiate action against the Cougars.

MONTLAKE MAGIC
Washington will look to turn Husky Soccer Stadium into a fortress once again in 2023. The Dawgs were nearly unbeatable on their home pitch a season ago, posting a 7-1-1 record on Montlake.

NON-CON CONTROL
The Huskies are undefeated in their last 11 non-conference matchups, turning in the program's first-ever undefeated non-con schedule in 2022. UW has racked up a 7-0-4 record over those 11 matches.

FRESH FACES
With 10 of 11 primary starters gone from the 2022 roster, Washington will be relying on a bevy of newcomers and returners who played in a reserve role a season ago to replace the production lost.

Gone from the 2022 roster are 27-of-37 goals (73.0%), 31-of-38 assists (81.6%), 85-of-112 points (75.9%), 252-of-312 shots (80.8%) and 43-of-46 saves (93.5%).

Of the 28 players on the Huskies' roster, just seven are upperclassmen. U Dub boasts 11 freshmen and 10 sophomores on its squad list. Outside of the 17 matches started by Kalea Eichenberger at Cal State Bakersfield in 2022, those 21 underclassmen have recorded just 27 collegiate starts collectively.

NEW SCHOOL, WHO DIS?
Washington added three transfers to its roster for the 2023 season in forwards Kalea Eichenberger and Ioanna Papatheodorou and goalkeeper Megan Nail.

Eichenberger spent her freshman season at Cal State Bakersfield, earning All-Big West Freshman Team honors. The California native appeared in 20 matches for the Roadrunners, starting the final 17 of the 2022 season. She bagged a team-high four goals, finishing the season with 10 points to pace the UCSB. She was named Big West Player of the Week after securing a brace against Cal Poly.

Papatheodorou joined Washington in the spring after starring for two seasons at UMass Lowell, earning back-to-back First Team All-America East nods. A Greece international, Papatheodorou was named the 2021 America East Striker of the Year after leading UMass Lowell with 10 goals. She followed up in 2022 with another 10-goal campaign, ranking second on the America East.

Nail is a graduate transfer from San Francisco, where she played for four seasons for the Dons, securing the starting role between the posts in 2022. Making the USF Starting XI 14 times on the year, she garnered a 1.23 goals against average. The veteran shot stopper tallied 64 saves for a .790 save percentage, logging five clean sheets.

ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS
Washington had two representatives at the 2022 rendition of the prestigious High School All-American game as true freshmen Maya Loudd and Samiah Shell were both selected to the West Team.

YOU CAN FIND ME IN DA CLUB
Among Washington's 15 newcomers for the 2023 season is sophomore Avery Nguyen, who was offered a roster spot during preseason training after a trial. A native of the Kansas City metro area and a former standout for Olathe Northwest High School and Sporting Blue Valley, Nguyen led the UW club team in scoring as a college freshman in 2022.

COWART MAKES HISTORY
This summer, former Husky Jessika Cowart became the sixth former Dawg to make a World Cup roster, joining Hope Solo, Tina Frimpong, Veronica Perez, Mireya Grey and Dominique Bond-Flasza. Representing her mother's home nation, Cowart suited up for the Philippines National Team after helping the Philippines lift the 2022 AFF Cup. One of the great storylines of the tournament, Cowart started all three matches of the group stage as the Philippines made its first-ever World Cup appearance.

FOR DAWGS AND COUNTRY
This summer, two Huskies represented their home country and donned their nation's badge as part of their respective national teams. Ioanna Papatheodorou was called into the Greece National Team in July for a pair of friendlies against Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Budapest, Hungary.

Meanwhile, Husky freshman Enora Matté made the squad list for Belgium's Under-19 team for the 2023 UEFA U19 Championship, receiving one cap during the group stage.

Another freshman on the Dawg's roster, Daniella Alali was called into the Nigeria U17 Women's National Team Camp ahead of the 2022 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup, but did not attend the camp due to injury.

PROS MADE HERE
Over the past two seasons, Washington has developed 11 different players who have gone on to play at the professional ranks. Following the 2021 campaign, Olivia Van der Jagt was selected in the 3rd round of the NWSL Draft by OL Reign, while Ameera Hussen signed with Icelandic club IBV. Since finishing her Husky career, Jessika Cowart has gone on to ink deals with Çaykur Rizespor (Turkey), Spartak Subotica (Serbia) and IFK Kalmar (Sweden).

Eight former Huskies from the 2022 roster are now playing at the professional level. Shae Holmes was drafted in the second round of the NWSL Draft by OL Reign, followed in the fourth round by Summer Yates, who was selected by the Orlando Pride. Olivia Sekany and McKenzie Weinert have also signed NWSL contracts with Racing Louisville and OL Reign, respectively.

Overseas, Vanessa Millsaps signed with Liga MX club Pachuca. Cori Sullivan also signed a Liga MX deal with Cruz Azul and has since signed with Glasgow City in Scotland. Evelina Pettersson returned to her native Sweden to play for Trelleborgs FF, while Kala McDaniel signed with Racing Power FC in Portugal.

RAPHA'S RETURN
A former standout player and coach for Washington's men's soccer team, Raphael Cox returned to Montlake ahead of the 2023 as an assistant coach following one season as a men's team assistant at San Diego State.

Cox spent three seasons on Jamie Clark's staff at Washington as volunteer assistant coach from 2019-21. As a player, Cox a two-time All-Pac-12 selection at UW where he played from 2006-2008. After graduating, Cox was selected in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake, where he was part of the MLS Cup Champion squad in 2009.

B1G THINGS COMING
The 2023 season will be Washington's last in the Pac-12 Conference, with the university announcing in August that it has accepted an invitation to the Big Ten Conference, beginning play in the conference in Fall 2024.

UW was one of the four founding members of what started in December of 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference, which eventually grew to become the Pac-12.

HUSKIES PICKED SEVENTH IN PAC-12 PRESEASON POLL
The Pac-12 announced the 2023 Preseason Coaches' Poll prior to the season, with Washington predicted to match its 2022 finish and place seventh in the league table as voted on by the conference's 12 head coaches. The Huskies received the same number of votes as both Arizona State and Colorado.

2022 PAC-12 PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Team
1. UCLA (9)
2. Stanford (3)
3. USC
4. Cal
5. Washington State
6. Arizona
T7. Washington
T7. Arizona State
T7. Colorado
10. Utah
11. Oregon
12. Oregon State

FOLLOW THE DAWGS!
Fans can keep up with all the goings on around the Washington women's soccer program by following the Huskies on the team's various social media platforms. You can find the Dawgs on X at @UW_WSoccer, on Instagram at @uw_wsoccer or on Facebook by searching "Washington Women's Soccer". Fans can also follow the Huskies through the women's soccer page at GoHuskies.com.