Huskies Finish Up Non-Con Schedule At Long Beach State Thursday

Thursday, September 5

Long Beach, CA

7:30 PM

University of Washington

Long Beach State

Huskies Finish Up Non-Con Schedule At Long Beach State Thursday

September 04, 2024 | Women's Soccer

UW Notes LBSU Notes Watch Live Stats

SEATTLE – Coming off of a dominating 2-0 victory over New Mexico State, the Aggies first loss of the season, Washington hits the road looking to build on the momentum, taking on Long Beach State in Southern California on Thursday, squaring off at 7 p.m. PT.

Thursday's match will be available for streaming through ESPN+, with live stats available at HuskyStats.com.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE
Long Beach State is in its 21st season under the direction of head coach Mauricio Ingrassia, who picked up his 200th win at the Beach on Saturday at Utah Valley. Under Ingrassia, LBSU has reached the NCAA Tournament seven times and has captured nine Big West regular season or tournament championships.

The Beach were selected as the Big West favorites by the league's head coaches. Facing a daunting non-conference schedule that includes fellow Big Ten member UCLA as well as a ranked BYU and Santa Clara sides, Long Beach State is 2-2-1 through five matches.

LBSU also placed two players on the Preseason All-Big West Team in sophomore defender Brooklyn Antonucci and junior forward Liz Worden, a transfer from Texas.

Redshirt junior midfielder Makayla Demelo is the only player for Long Beach State with multiple goals this season, while senior forward Kassandra Ceja owns two of LBSU's five assists this season.

Redshirt sophomore Aurora Schuck has seen all the action between the posts for the Beach, surrendering seven goals for a 1.40 goals-against-average. Schuck has made 26 saves, garnering a .788 save percentage with one clean sheet.

SERIES HISTORY
Washington and Long Beach State have squared off just twice previously, both times recently. The Huskies drew 1-1 with the Beach in 2021 in Seattle before earning a 5-1 victory over LBSU in SoCal in 2022.

LAST MEETING (8/28/22)
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Huskies remained unbeaten following a 5-1 win at Long Beach State.

Karlee Stueckle secured her team-leading third goal of the season to put Washington on the board in the 12th minute off an assist by Claudia Longo. Kyla Ferry added in the 28th minute to put UW up 2-0.

Long Beach State responded with a goal in the 34th minute, before Summer Yates fired back 15 seconds later with her first goal of the year off of assists by McKenzie Weinert and Hailey Still.

After a defensive battle to start the second half, Washington broke through in the 84th minute off a goal from Weinert and an assist by Kolo Suliafu. Suliafu followed up in the 89th minute with her first career goal to put the Huskies up by the final score of 5-1.

10 of Washington's 25 shots were on target, with Hayden Crowley and Yates recording two apiece. Olivia Sekany had two saves on the day. Weinert's four points matched a career-high that she set during the 2019 season at Oregon State.

TITLE FAVORITES
Long Beach State is the second opponent for Washington during its non-conference schedule that was picked to capture its league's crown, joining Santa Clara, the WCC favorite. Seattle U and New Mexico State were picked to finish second in the WAC and C-USA, respectively.

GASSING UP AT THE SHELL STATION
After failing to score in her first 18 career collegiate matches, sophomore midfielder Samiah Shell has found the back of the net in back-to-back affairs for the Huskies, tying Ioanna Papatheodorou for the team lead. Making the feat more impressive, the Auburn, Washington, native has needed just four shots to bag her two goals.

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 31 consecutive matches. Branson is the only Husky to start all 19 matches in 2023 and start the first five fixtures of 2024.

INSTANT IMPACT
The Huskies have gotten immediate contributions from three true freshmen in Alex Buck, Kate Cheldelin and Andrea Leyva, with Buck and Cheldelin starting three consecutive matches and Leyva cracking the starting XI in back-to-back affairs.

EMPTYING THE TANK
Kolo Suliafu has not come off the pitch in any of the last 11 matches for Washington, playing 990 straight minutes for the Huskies. Suliafu played the full 90 minutes in 13 of 18 matches played in 2023.

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.

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%).

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 Shelby 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).

SETTING THE STAGE
15 of Washington's 31 goals during the 2023 came off of set pieces, with six goals coming as the result of corner kicks, five being scored off of free kicks and all four penalties being converted.

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 14TH IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
The Big Ten Conference announced the 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll prior to the season, with Washington predicted to finish 14th 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.