Dawgs Stay Home, Host Yale Thursday Night

Thursday, August 31

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

Yale

Buy Tickets

August 30, 2023 | Women's Soccer

UW Notes Watch Live Stats Tickets

SEATTLE – A few days off of a 5-0 romping of San Diego at the weekend, the Washington women's soccer team remains on its home turf Thursday night, hosting Yale in a non-conference tilt at Husky Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. PT.

Thursday's match will be available for stream through Washington Live Stream 2. Links to live coverage can be found to the right and on the schedule page at GoHuskies.com.

SCOUTING YALE
Thursday night's match will be a reunion affair as former Husky Sarah Martinez returns to Montlake as the head coach of the Bulldogs. Martinez is in her third season at the helm of the Yale program.

The Bulldogs enter Thursday's matchup with a 1-0-1 record, drawing 2-2 at Sacred Heart before rebounding with a 2-1 win at home against UMass.

Four different players have scored the Bulldogs' four goals this season, including freshman Anita Thorvaldsdottir, who has taken nine of Yale's 34 shots through two matches. Junior Annika Bryant and senior Ellery Winkler have dished out Yale's two assists.

In her first season as Yale's primary keeper, senior Marisa Shorrock owns a 1.50 goals against average for the season, making 10 saves at a .769 clip.

SERIES HISTORY
The Huskies have faced off against Yale just one time previously, a neutral site affair in Portland in 2007. The Huskies came out on top in that match, rallying from an early deficit to top the Bulldogs 2-1.

LAST MEETING (9/14/07)
PORTLAND, Ore. - Reserve forward Shuree Hyatt netted two second-half goals to rally Washington to its first win, a 2-1 victory over Yale in the first round of the Portland Invitational women's soccer tournament at Merlo Field.

Hyatt registered her first multiple-goal game as a Husky. She scored for the first time since early the previous season when she had two goals before missing the final 12 games with an injury.

She did not play in the opening half, but was inserted into the lineup that started the second period. Hyatt contributed immediately, scoring the equalizer 35 seconds after halftime. She received a pass from Dani Bridges and sent a low, eight-yard drive into the goal from a difficult angle.

Hyatt notched the game-winner at 60:54 on a five-yard header off a free kick from Nikki Murray. Hyatt had three opportunities to post a hat trick, including an 86th-minute try that was cleared off the line by a Yale defender, but none of those shots found the goal.

The Bulldogs attempted the game's first seven shots. UW's initial offering, by freshman Sara Turcios, didn't come until the 36th minute.

Less than half a minute later, Yale scored first with a 12-yard shot by Becky Brown. Maggie Westfal assisted on the goal at 37:05.

Sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Carr protected the lead with a diving save in the 76th minute. She was credited with five saves for the Huskies, who were out shot 17-10 for the game.

IT FEELS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME
Of the nine total goals this season scored by the Huskies, seven have been the first in a Washington kit for their respective scorers. Radisson Banks, Jadyn Holdenried, Chloe Seelhoff, Lucy Newlin and Anna Menti have all scored their first collegiate goals this season, while UW's final two tallies in Sunday's 5-0 win over San Diego were registered by transfers Ioanna Papatheodorou and Kalea Eichenberger.

A WARM WASHINGTON WELCOME
Thursday's matchup with Yale will see the return of Washington alum Sarah Martinez, who is in her third season as the head coach of the Bulldogs. Martinez was a two-time All-Pac-12 standout for the Huskies during her playing career, helping lead UW to three NCAA Tournament bids. After graduating, Martinez remained in Montlake for four seasons as the director of operations for the men's and women's soccer programs before accepting an assistant coach position at Stony Brook.

AYE PAPI!
Washington junior Ioanna Papatheodorou has been ranked at No. 92 in TopDrawerSoccer's annual preseason player rankings. It is the first time that the Greek international has been ranked by the service. It is the fourth-straight season that the Huskies have had a player ranked in the top-100 in the preseason rankings.

YOUNG GUNS
Washington has started at least three true freshmen in every match this season, including back-to-back matches with five rookies in the Starting XI.

MONTLAKE MAGIC
Over the past two seasons, Washington has created a tough environment to play against on its home turf. Since the start of the 2022 season, the Dawgs own an
8-2-2 record at Husky Soccer Stadium.

MISSED YA, MIA
Coming on in the 59th minute against San Diego, sophomore goalkeeper Mia Hamant made her Husky debut between the posts after missing nearly two full years with an ACL injury. The four-time all-league performer in high school faced one shot in the match, making the save.

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.

FRESH FACES
With 10 of 11 primary starters gone from the 2022 roster, Washington is 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.

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.