Huskies Return Home, Host Dawg Pack Night Thursday Against Purdue

Thursday, September 26

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

Purdue

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Huskies Return Home, Host Dawg Pack Night Thursday Against Purdue

September 25, 2024 | Women's Soccer

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SEATTLE – Following a 1-1-0 week-long road trip to the east coast, Washington returns to the familiar grounds of Husky Soccer Stadium Thursday, welcoming Purdue for a 7 p.m. PT kickoff.

The fixture will be UW's annual Dawg Pack Night, celebrating the Huskies' loyal and dedicated student fanbase, which returned to class this week on Montlake.

Thursday's match will be streamed live on B1G+, with live stats available at HuskyStats.com.

SCOUTING PURDUE
Richard Moodie is in his first season leading the women's soccer program at Purdue, making the move to West Lafayette after seven successful seasons at South Alabama. During his stint in Mobile, Moodie was twice named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year and guided the Jaguars to seven conference championships.

Purdue enters Thursday night's matchup with a 5-4-1 record, tied with Washington in the Big Ten table with three points at 1-2-0. The Boilermakers are coming off of a 0-2-0 week at home, falling 1-0 to USC and 2-0 to UCLA.

Three players are tied for Purdue's scoring lead as senior forward Gracie Dunaway, junior forward Chiara Singarella and senior midfielder Abigail Roy have all scored three times in 2024. Dunaway is also tied with junior forward Kayla Budish for the team lead with a pair of assists.

Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Edwards, a transfer from Pitt, has started 9-of-10 matches between the posts for the Boilermakers, posting a 0.91 goals-against-average and a .800 save percentage on 32 stops. Edwards has collected four clean sheets in 2024.

SERIES HISTORY
Washington and Purdue have played just two times previously, squaring off in a home-and-home series in 2007 and 2008. The Huskies dropped a 3-1 matchup with the Boilermakers in Seattle in 2007 but responded with a 1-0 road victory in West Lafayette the following year.

LAST MEETING (9/19/08)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior Melissa Beal broke a scoreless tie in the 87th minute to give the Washington women's soccer team a 1-0 victory over Purdue to keep the Huskies undefeated at 7-0-0.

The match appeared to be headed to overtime until Beal dribbled into the box and unleashed a shot from five yards out which just escaped the dive of Boilermaker goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch.

UW had a season-low seven shots in the match but managed to hang tough with the Boilermakers, who went 20-2-3 in 2007 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UW held a 4-3 shot advantage at halftime, but Purdue came out on fire in the second half, taking six shots in the first 20 minutes and seven before the Huskies could muster their first shot of the half.

The Huskies regained control in the 79th minute when junior Veronica Perez took the Huskies' first shot of the second period, but it went wide and the game remained scoreless.

Washington had another scoring chance in the 86th minute but Bradfisch made a save of freshman Kate Deines' shot. Just a minute later, however, Beal knocked in her 15th career goal to move into a tie for 10th on UW's career charts.

UW's defense was yet again the key as the Huskies limited Purdue to just two shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Alex Phillips faced the toughest test of her collegiate career, making one save and facing 11 total shots en route to her third shutout and sixth win of the season.

SOPHOMORE SURGE
Washington leading goal scorer Samiah Shell is enjoying a breakout sophomore campaign this season, pacing the Huskies with four goals after bagging a brace in Thursday's 3-0 at Maryland. Shell has been efficient with her opportunities, needing just 13 shots for her four goals and putting eight of those 13 attempts on frame. Appearing in 15 matches during her freshman season a year ago, Shell attempted just five shots as a rookie.

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 35 consecutive matches. Branson is the only Husky to start all 19 matches in 2023 and start the first nine 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 eight-consecutive matches on the back line and Leyva and Buck each making three starts and recording one assist apiece.

EMPTYING THE TANK
Kolo Suliafu has not come off the pitch in any of the last 15 matches for Washington, playing 1,370 straight minutes for the Huskies. Suliafu played the full 90 minutes in 13 of 18 matches played in 2023.

TITLE FAVORITES
Washington played two teams during its non-conference schedule that were projected to claim their respective conference's regular season championship in Long Beach State and Santa Clara, the Big West and WCC favorites. Meanwhile, Seattle U and New Mexico State were picked to finish second in the WAC and C-USA, respectively.

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.

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%).

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

2023 BIG TEN PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
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

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.

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.