Pac-12 Play Continues as Huskies Host Utah on Thursday

SEATTLE – Coming off of the first blemish to its record in 2022, Washington returns to Seattle for a pair of Pac-12 home matches this week, beginning with a Thursday night matchup with Utah at the Husky Soccer Stadium.

The match will be available on Pac-12 Mountain. Live Stats can be found at HuskyStats.com.

SCOUTING UTAH
Utah is in its second season under head coach Hideki Nakada. During Nakada's first season with the Utes, Utah finished 6-10-4 record overall, including 1-7-3 in Pac-12 play. Prior to making the move to Salt Lake City, Nakada spent seven seasons as an assistant at Stanford.
 
The Utes enter Thursday's clash with a 5-2-2 overall record but have yet to win a match away from home at 0-1-1. Utah was one of six Pac-12 teams to open conference play with a victory, topping Arizona 2-1 in SLC.
 
Utah is led in scoring by junior forward Taliana Kaufusi, who has scored five of the Utes' 14 goals in 2022. Meanwhile, freshman defender Ryann Cull paces the Utes with three assists on the season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Evie Vitali has seen nearly all of the action in goal for Utah, posting a 0.91 goals against average with a .778 save percentage on 28 stops.

SERIES HISTORY
The Huskies and Utes have split the previous 15 meetings in the series with respective 7-7-1 records. Washington holds a 4-2-0 record all-time at home against Utah despite dropping the most recent decision, a 1-0 Ute victory at Husky Soccer Stadium in 2019.
 
LAST MEETING (10/03/21)
SALT LAKE CITY - Washington tied Utah 1-1 on Sunday afternoon at Ute Field. In the match, the Huskies opened the scoring in the 26th minute but Utah leveled during the second half in a tight battle throughout.
 
McKenzie Weinert scored her first goal as a Husky midway through the first half when the Utah goalkeeper's misplay landed at the feet of Weinert, who calmly scored in the open net.
 
Utah leveled in the second half at 1-1, off Taliana Kaufusi's headed ball in the 54th minute.
 
The big story of the day was Olivia Sekany,  who came up big multiple times, totaling nine saves in the match, a career high. In the 10th minute Sekany was challenged as she deflected a Ute shot off the post and then knocked away the follow-up shot. Again in the 64th minute, Sekany came up with a big save on the near post to keep the score level.
 
The Huskies totaled 15 shots in the match, seven on goal, with Weinert, Kala McDaniel and Helena Reischling each with three on the day.

POLL POSITION
Washington is ranked No. 23 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings, cracking the poll for the first time in 2022. The Huskies are also ranked 26th by College Soccer News and are receiving 11 votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

KICKING MS WITH CLAUDIA
Next Tuesday, the Washington Soccer team will participate in Kicking MS with Claudia, hosted during Issaquah High School's varsity girl's soccer match against Redmond High School.

The fundraising event honors IHS alum and current Husky player Claudia Longo, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during her senior year of high school. All funds raised will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
 
On the night of the game, the IHS team will be wearing orange socks to show their support of Claudia. During the evening, Issaquah High School volunteers will be selling commemorative t-shirts and bracelets to raise funds, with members of the Husky program volunteering to collect donations.
 
HERE TO HELP
Midfielder Summer Yates ranks 12th in the nation and leads the Pac-12 with six assists on the season, posting four assists in the last four matches. Four of the six goals Yates has set up this season have been game-winners. The six assists are already tied for the most in a single season in Yates' vaunted Husky career. With 23 assists in her career, Yates ranks fourth all-time at UW. As a team, the Huskies 2.67 assists per game rank 12th in the nation.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Washington's scoring output has come from up and down its roster, with 12 different Huskies scoring a goal. Kyla Ferry, Hailey Still and Karlee Stueckle are all tied for the team lead with four goals despite each having scored fewer than four career goals entering the season.

OLD HEADS
The Huskies are led by a veteran group with a wealth of experience, with 17 players entering the season with at least three seasons of collegiate experience, including 11 Huskies with four years of experience or more. This group is being leaned on to provide leadership to a crop of 10 true freshmen.

IT'S WHERE YOU FINISH
Of the 16 players to start a match for the Huskies this season, seven began their career at another Division I institution before transferring to Montlake. Of those seven transfers, five have started at least seven times for UW this season.

For more information on the UW women's soccer team, follow @UW_WSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.