Thursday, October 17
Iowa City, IA
5:30 PM
University of Washington
at
Iowa
Top-25 Road Battle Set For Thursday Night As No. 24 UW Takes On No. 14 Iowa
October 16, 2024 | Women's Soccer
IOWA CITY, Iowa βΒ Looking to run its winning streak to three after Sunday's win over No. 5 Michigan State on Montlake, the No. 24 Washington women's soccer team is set for the first of two road matches Thursday night, visiting No. 14 Iowa.
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Thursday's affair will be televised to a national audience on the Big Ten Network, with live stats available at HuskyStats.com.
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SCOUTING IOWA
Iowa is led by head coach Dave Dilanni, who is in his 11th season in Iowa City after an 11-year run at NCAA Division II powerhouse Grand Valley State. In his time at Iowa, Dilanni has amassed more than 100 wins and has guided the Hawkeyes to three NCAA Tournament bids and a pair of Big Ten Championships.
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Sitting third in the Big Ten Table, Iowa owns an 11-1-3 record, including 6-1-1 in conference play. After suffering their first loss of the season to Wisconsin earlier in the week, the Hawkeyes rebounded with a 2-0 road win at No. 15 Rutgers on Sunday.
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Freshman forward Berit Parten leads the Hawkeyes with six goals in 2024, one goal ahead of graduate student forward Maya Hansen and senior forward Meike Ingles. Tied with senior forward/midfielder Kenzie Roling for the team lead with four assists, Ingles paces Iowa with 14 total points.
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Graduate Student Macy Enneking has started every match and played all but two minutes in goal for Iowa. Enneking boasts a 0.53 goals against average with a .818 save percentage with 36 stops. Enneking has secured seven clean sheets this season.
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SERIES HISTORY
Washington will be facing Iowa for the first time ever. The Hawkeyes are the fourth unique opponent of the season for Washington, joining Wyoming, New Mexico State and Indiana.
B1G PAPI
Leading Washington to a six-point weekend with wins over Michigan and No. 5 Michigan State, senior striker Ioanna Papatheodorou was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. The Greek international bagged four goals on the week, including both match winners. Papatheodorou both scored the equalizing goal and gave Washington the lead in Thursday's 3-1 victory over the Wolverines, then doubled down with a pair of long range free kick strikes, the second with just over five minutes left on the clock, to lift the Huskies 2-1 over the Spartans on Sunday.
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Papatheodorou is Washington's first-ever Big Ten Player of the Week honoree and the first Husky to earn conference player of the week honors since Kelsey Branson and Olivia Juarez were named the Pac-12 Offensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week for week 9 of 2023 after Washington's 1-1 draw at No. 2 Stanford.
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The senior was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the week.
SPARTY PARTY
Washington's victory over No. 5 Michigan State on Sunday was UW's first win over a top-5 ranked team since 2017, when the Huskies defeated No. 2 Florida 1-0 at Husky Soccer Stadium.
BRICK-BY-BRICK
Washington has proven to be one of the toughest defenses to crack in 2024, ranking 13th in the nation with a 0.538 team goals-against-average and 14th nationally with a 0.868 team save percentage. UW has posted seven clean sheets, already eclipsing its total from 2023, ranking 35th nationally with a .538 shutout percentage. Along with UCLA, Washington is one of two Big Ten teams to not allow multiple goals in a single conference match.
POLL POSITION
With four wins over the last five matches, Washington received its first national ranking of the season, coming in at No. 24 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25 rankings. It is UW's first time appearing in either major poll since being ranked No. 23 by TDS for Week 7 in 2022.
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ROOKIE RECOGNITION
Washington's Andrea Leyva, a midfielder out of Las Vegas, came in at No. 56 in TopDrawerSoccer's midseason Top-100 Freshman rankings. Leyva has appeared in all 14 matches for the Huskies, cracking the Starting XI nine times.
SOME SAY SUBS, WE SAY HEROES
A large chunk (6-of-19) of Washington's goals in 2024 have come off the bench. Radisson Banks has scored three times, all as a sub, while two of Ioanna Papatheodorou's goals in 2024 have come off the bench. Kalea Eichenberger also found the back of the net as a substitute at Long Beach State.
YES INDEED I CAN RUN IT, RUN IT
While Washington made its living largely off of set piece opportunities in 2023, the vast majority of the Huskies' 19 goals in 2024 have come through build-up play. The Huskies have scored 13 times this season from the run of play, compared to six goals coming off of set pieces.
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MAMA MIA
Junior Mia Hamant has been a breakout star for Washington in 2024, ranking 11th in the nation and first in the Big Ten with an .870 save percentage as well as 23rd in the NCAA and third in the B1G in goals-against-average at 0.571. Hamant has garnered five of UW's seven clean sheets this season.
STARTING XI FIXTURE
Since making seven-straight starts to end her freshman campaign, junior Kelsey Branson has not failed to crack the Huskies' starting XI a single time, a streak spanning 39 consecutive matches. Branson is the only Husky to start all 19 matches in 2023 and start the first 14 fixtures of 2024.
INSTANT IMPACT
The Huskies have gotten immediate contributions from three true freshmen in Alex Buck, Kate Cheldelin and Andrea Leyva, with Cheldelin starting 13-consecutive matches on the back line and Leyva and Buck consistently appearing for UW in both starting and reserve roles.
EMPTYING THE TANK
Kolo Suliafu has not come off the pitch in any of the last 19 matches for Washington, playing 1,710 straight minutes for the Huskies. Suliafu played the full 90 minutes in 13 of 18 matches played in 2023.
GANG'S ALL BACK
Washington returns nearly the entirety of its roster from the 2023 roster, standing as the only team in the Big Ten to return its entire starting XI with 11 returners with 10 or more starts in 2023.
What's more, the bulk of the Huskies firepower is back, with Washington returning the vast majority of its goals (26/31, 83.9%), assists (31/33, 93.9%), points (83/95, 87.4%) shots (215/246, 87.4%), shots on goal (90/108, 83.3%) and game-winning goals (9/9, 100%) from a season ago.
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Additionally, with 3-of-4 goalkeepers back from the 2023 roster, the Dawgs return practically all of its goalkeeper minutes (1605:29/1710:00, 93.9%) and saves (62/64, 96.9%).
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Nine of Washington's 32 players hail from the Evergreen State, with six products of King County (Alex Buck, Malie Chamberland, Maggie Dutra, Anna Menti, Shelby Runje, Samiah Shell), two natives of Pierce County (Sophie Blake, Ava Morton) and one product of Snohomish County (Deanna Montero).
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PAYING (OFF) THE PENALTY
Ioanna Papatheodorou is about as sure of a thing from the penalty spot as there is in college soccer. The senior has converted seven of the eight spot kicks taken in her career, including each of the last five. Papatheodorou has been called to take a penalty exactly twice in all four of her collegiate seasons.
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A B1G NEW ERA
Washington enters a new era in 2024 as a member of the prestigious Big Ten Conference. The move means not only new destinations but new challenges for the Huskies as well, with the Big Ten boasting nine teams that earned a bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament and seven schools ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.
Washington, a founding member of what eventually became the Pac-12 Conference, began play in what was then known as the Pac-10 during the conference's first season supporting women's soccer in 1995. UW launched its women's soccer program in 1991.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Despite returning the vast majority of its 2023 roster, Washington nonetheless reloaded with a talented crop of nine freshmen newcomers.
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Among the group are three players who were selected to the prestigious High School All-American Game in Alex Buck, Maggie Dutra and Andrea Leyva.
EURO TRIP
This summer, Husky senior Ioanna Papatheodorou was called upon to don her nation's colors, earning a call up to the Greece National Team for a pair of qualifiers for the 2025 UEFA Women's European Championships. Paptheodorou earned a starting XI cap for Greece's 6-0 win over Andorra.
Papatheodorou isn't the only Husky with European experience at the national team level, with Enora Matté earning a handful of caps for the Belgium Under-19 National Team.
HOMECOMING
In addition to nine freshmen, Washington also adds a newcomer with proven experience at the college level in sophomore forward Sophie Runje. Runje, a product of nearby Issaquah High School in Issaquah, Washington, made the move back to King County after spending her freshman season across the state at Gonzaga. Runje scored five goals as a rookie, earning All-WCC Freshman Team plaudits.
KEEP AN EYE OUT
Prior to the season, the Big Ten Conference announced its Players to Watch List, with a trio of Husky juniors making the cut in midfielder's Kelsey Branson and Tatum Thomason and defender Kolo Suliafu.
Thomason led the Dawgs with six goals in 2023, scoring three times in the final three matches of the season. Thomason came up in the clutch all season long for the Huskies, bagging four of UW's nine match-winning goals for the season.
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Following up on a breakout freshman campaign, Branson doubled up with another phenomenal season in 2023, scoring four goals and chipping in three assists. The San Diego native earned her second career Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after leading UW to a historic road point at No. 2 Stanford.
With a combination of speed, toughness and defensive awareness, Suliafu has served as a backline anchor for the Huskies since stepping on campus in 2022. The Ontario, California, native has started 40 matches over her first two-plus seasons, leading the Huskies to 13 clean sheets. Also making an impact on offense, Suliafu has contributed four assists in her career.
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Nine of Washington's 32 players hail from the Evergreen State, with six products of King County (Alex Buck, Malie Chamberland, Maggie Dutra, Anna Menti, Shelby Runje, Samiah Shell), two natives of Pierce County (Sophie Blake, Ava Morton) and one product of Snohomish County (Deanna Montero).
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YOU CAN FIND ME IN DA CLUB
One of the more unique paths to the Husky roster comes from junior Avery Nguyen, who was offered a roster spot prior to the start of the 2023 season after a trial during preseason training. 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.
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Nguyen played a significant role for the Dawgs during the 2023 season, appearing in 11 matches and making a pair of starts.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
For the first time since 2018, Washington returns every member of its coaching staff, retaining assistant coaches Cole Schmit, Raphael Cox and Kary Whitney to Nicole Van Dyke's staff.
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SMART COOKIES
For the ninth straight season, Washington has received the United Soccer Coaches Academic Award after earning a 3.67 team GPA.
HUSKIES PICKED 13TH IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll prior to the season, with Washington predicted to finish 13th in its new league table as voted on by the conference's 18 head coaches.
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2024 BIG TEN PRESEASON COACHES' POLLΒ Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
1. UCLA
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Nebraska
5. USC
6. Wisconsin
7. Rutgers
8. Iowa
9. Ohio State
10. Indiana
11. Michigan
12. Northwestern
13. Washington
14. Minnesota
15. Illinois
16. Purdue
17. Maryland
18. Oregon
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WATCH THE DAWGS
Aside from Washington's matchups with USC and Iowa, which will be featured on the Big Ten Network, all UW home matches and Big Ten road matches will be available for streaming through B1G+. The live streams require a subscription, priced at $89.99 for one year or $12.99 per month. The B1G+ subscription allows you access to all non-televised Big Ten events, in addition to all non-televised Washington events throughout the year.
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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.
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Thursday's affair will be televised to a national audience on the Big Ten Network, with live stats available at HuskyStats.com.
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SCOUTING IOWA
Iowa is led by head coach Dave Dilanni, who is in his 11th season in Iowa City after an 11-year run at NCAA Division II powerhouse Grand Valley State. In his time at Iowa, Dilanni has amassed more than 100 wins and has guided the Hawkeyes to three NCAA Tournament bids and a pair of Big Ten Championships.
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Sitting third in the Big Ten Table, Iowa owns an 11-1-3 record, including 6-1-1 in conference play. After suffering their first loss of the season to Wisconsin earlier in the week, the Hawkeyes rebounded with a 2-0 road win at No. 15 Rutgers on Sunday.
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Freshman forward Berit Parten leads the Hawkeyes with six goals in 2024, one goal ahead of graduate student forward Maya Hansen and senior forward Meike Ingles. Tied with senior forward/midfielder Kenzie Roling for the team lead with four assists, Ingles paces Iowa with 14 total points.
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Graduate Student Macy Enneking has started every match and played all but two minutes in goal for Iowa. Enneking boasts a 0.53 goals against average with a .818 save percentage with 36 stops. Enneking has secured seven clean sheets this season.
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SERIES HISTORY
Washington will be facing Iowa for the first time ever. The Hawkeyes are the fourth unique opponent of the season for Washington, joining Wyoming, New Mexico State and Indiana.
B1G PAPI
Leading Washington to a six-point weekend with wins over Michigan and No. 5 Michigan State, senior striker Ioanna Papatheodorou was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. The Greek international bagged four goals on the week, including both match winners. Papatheodorou both scored the equalizing goal and gave Washington the lead in Thursday's 3-1 victory over the Wolverines, then doubled down with a pair of long range free kick strikes, the second with just over five minutes left on the clock, to lift the Huskies 2-1 over the Spartans on Sunday.
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Papatheodorou is Washington's first-ever Big Ten Player of the Week honoree and the first Husky to earn conference player of the week honors since Kelsey Branson and Olivia Juarez were named the Pac-12 Offensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week for week 9 of 2023 after Washington's 1-1 draw at No. 2 Stanford.
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The senior was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the week.
SPARTY PARTY
Washington's victory over No. 5 Michigan State on Sunday was UW's first win over a top-5 ranked team since 2017, when the Huskies defeated No. 2 Florida 1-0 at Husky Soccer Stadium.
BRICK-BY-BRICK
Washington has proven to be one of the toughest defenses to crack in 2024, ranking 13th in the nation with a 0.538 team goals-against-average and 14th nationally with a 0.868 team save percentage. UW has posted seven clean sheets, already eclipsing its total from 2023, ranking 35th nationally with a .538 shutout percentage. Along with UCLA, Washington is one of two Big Ten teams to not allow multiple goals in a single conference match.
POLL POSITION
With four wins over the last five matches, Washington received its first national ranking of the season, coming in at No. 24 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25 rankings. It is UW's first time appearing in either major poll since being ranked No. 23 by TDS for Week 7 in 2022.
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ROOKIE RECOGNITION
Washington's Andrea Leyva, a midfielder out of Las Vegas, came in at No. 56 in TopDrawerSoccer's midseason Top-100 Freshman rankings. Leyva has appeared in all 14 matches for the Huskies, cracking the Starting XI nine times.
SOME SAY SUBS, WE SAY HEROES
A large chunk (6-of-19) of Washington's goals in 2024 have come off the bench. Radisson Banks has scored three times, all as a sub, while two of Ioanna Papatheodorou's goals in 2024 have come off the bench. Kalea Eichenberger also found the back of the net as a substitute at Long Beach State.
YES INDEED I CAN RUN IT, RUN IT
While Washington made its living largely off of set piece opportunities in 2023, the vast majority of the Huskies' 19 goals in 2024 have come through build-up play. The Huskies have scored 13 times this season from the run of play, compared to six goals coming off of set pieces.
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MAMA MIA
Junior Mia Hamant has been a breakout star for Washington in 2024, ranking 11th in the nation and first in the Big Ten with an .870 save percentage as well as 23rd in the NCAA and third in the B1G in goals-against-average at 0.571. Hamant has garnered five of UW's seven clean sheets this season.
STARTING XI FIXTURE
Since making seven-straight starts to end her freshman campaign, junior Kelsey Branson has not failed to crack the Huskies' starting XI a single time, a streak spanning 39 consecutive matches. Branson is the only Husky to start all 19 matches in 2023 and start the first 14 fixtures of 2024.
INSTANT IMPACT
The Huskies have gotten immediate contributions from three true freshmen in Alex Buck, Kate Cheldelin and Andrea Leyva, with Cheldelin starting 13-consecutive matches on the back line and Leyva and Buck consistently appearing for UW in both starting and reserve roles.
EMPTYING THE TANK
Kolo Suliafu has not come off the pitch in any of the last 19 matches for Washington, playing 1,710 straight minutes for the Huskies. Suliafu played the full 90 minutes in 13 of 18 matches played in 2023.
GANG'S ALL BACK
Washington returns nearly the entirety of its roster from the 2023 roster, standing as the only team in the Big Ten to return its entire starting XI with 11 returners with 10 or more starts in 2023.
What's more, the bulk of the Huskies firepower is back, with Washington returning the vast majority of its goals (26/31, 83.9%), assists (31/33, 93.9%), points (83/95, 87.4%) shots (215/246, 87.4%), shots on goal (90/108, 83.3%) and game-winning goals (9/9, 100%) from a season ago.
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Additionally, with 3-of-4 goalkeepers back from the 2023 roster, the Dawgs return practically all of its goalkeeper minutes (1605:29/1710:00, 93.9%) and saves (62/64, 96.9%).
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Nine of Washington's 32 players hail from the Evergreen State, with six products of King County (Alex Buck, Malie Chamberland, Maggie Dutra, Anna Menti, Shelby Runje, Samiah Shell), two natives of Pierce County (Sophie Blake, Ava Morton) and one product of Snohomish County (Deanna Montero).
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PAYING (OFF) THE PENALTY
Ioanna Papatheodorou is about as sure of a thing from the penalty spot as there is in college soccer. The senior has converted seven of the eight spot kicks taken in her career, including each of the last five. Papatheodorou has been called to take a penalty exactly twice in all four of her collegiate seasons.
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A B1G NEW ERA
Washington enters a new era in 2024 as a member of the prestigious Big Ten Conference. The move means not only new destinations but new challenges for the Huskies as well, with the Big Ten boasting nine teams that earned a bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament and seven schools ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.
Washington, a founding member of what eventually became the Pac-12 Conference, began play in what was then known as the Pac-10 during the conference's first season supporting women's soccer in 1995. UW launched its women's soccer program in 1991.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Despite returning the vast majority of its 2023 roster, Washington nonetheless reloaded with a talented crop of nine freshmen newcomers.
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Among the group are three players who were selected to the prestigious High School All-American Game in Alex Buck, Maggie Dutra and Andrea Leyva.
EURO TRIP
This summer, Husky senior Ioanna Papatheodorou was called upon to don her nation's colors, earning a call up to the Greece National Team for a pair of qualifiers for the 2025 UEFA Women's European Championships. Paptheodorou earned a starting XI cap for Greece's 6-0 win over Andorra.
Papatheodorou isn't the only Husky with European experience at the national team level, with Enora Matté earning a handful of caps for the Belgium Under-19 National Team.
HOMECOMING
In addition to nine freshmen, Washington also adds a newcomer with proven experience at the college level in sophomore forward Sophie Runje. Runje, a product of nearby Issaquah High School in Issaquah, Washington, made the move back to King County after spending her freshman season across the state at Gonzaga. Runje scored five goals as a rookie, earning All-WCC Freshman Team plaudits.
KEEP AN EYE OUT
Prior to the season, the Big Ten Conference announced its Players to Watch List, with a trio of Husky juniors making the cut in midfielder's Kelsey Branson and Tatum Thomason and defender Kolo Suliafu.
Thomason led the Dawgs with six goals in 2023, scoring three times in the final three matches of the season. Thomason came up in the clutch all season long for the Huskies, bagging four of UW's nine match-winning goals for the season.
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Following up on a breakout freshman campaign, Branson doubled up with another phenomenal season in 2023, scoring four goals and chipping in three assists. The San Diego native earned her second career Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after leading UW to a historic road point at No. 2 Stanford.
With a combination of speed, toughness and defensive awareness, Suliafu has served as a backline anchor for the Huskies since stepping on campus in 2022. The Ontario, California, native has started 40 matches over her first two-plus seasons, leading the Huskies to 13 clean sheets. Also making an impact on offense, Suliafu has contributed four assists in her career.
HOMEGROWN TALENT
Nine of Washington's 32 players hail from the Evergreen State, with six products of King County (Alex Buck, Malie Chamberland, Maggie Dutra, Anna Menti, Shelby Runje, Samiah Shell), two natives of Pierce County (Sophie Blake, Ava Morton) and one product of Snohomish County (Deanna Montero).
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YOU CAN FIND ME IN DA CLUB
One of the more unique paths to the Husky roster comes from junior Avery Nguyen, who was offered a roster spot prior to the start of the 2023 season after a trial during preseason training. 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.
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Nguyen played a significant role for the Dawgs during the 2023 season, appearing in 11 matches and making a pair of starts.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
For the first time since 2018, Washington returns every member of its coaching staff, retaining assistant coaches Cole Schmit, Raphael Cox and Kary Whitney to Nicole Van Dyke's staff.
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SMART COOKIES
For the ninth straight season, Washington has received the United Soccer Coaches Academic Award after earning a 3.67 team GPA.
HUSKIES PICKED 13TH IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll prior to the season, with Washington predicted to finish 13th in its new league table as voted on by the conference's 18 head coaches.
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2024 BIG TEN PRESEASON COACHES' POLLΒ Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
1. UCLA
2. Penn State
3. Michigan State
4. Nebraska
5. USC
6. Wisconsin
7. Rutgers
8. Iowa
9. Ohio State
10. Indiana
11. Michigan
12. Northwestern
13. Washington
14. Minnesota
15. Illinois
16. Purdue
17. Maryland
18. Oregon
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WATCH THE DAWGS
Aside from Washington's matchups with USC and Iowa, which will be featured on the Big Ten Network, all UW home matches and Big Ten road matches will be available for streaming through B1G+. The live streams require a subscription, priced at $89.99 for one year or $12.99 per month. The B1G+ subscription allows you access to all non-televised Big Ten events, in addition to all non-televised Washington events throughout the year.
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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.
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/ Women's SoccerKalea Eichenberger Goal
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