Washington Kicks Off Bay Area Trip Thursday Night at Stanford

SEATTLE – Winners of back-to-back league matches, the Huskies look to stay hot as they return to the road, taking on No. 14 Stanford Thursday night in Palo Alto, Calif.

Thursday's matchup with the Cardinal can be watched through Pac-12 Bay Area, while live stats can be found at HuskyStats.com.

SCOUTING STANFORD
Stanford is in its 20th season under legendary head coach Paul Ratcliffe, the winningest soccer coach, men or women, in school history. Under Ratcliffe, the Cardinal have won three national championships, reached five NCAA finals, won nine Pac-12 titles, played in nine College Cups, and reached the NCAA third round in 13 of the past 16 seasons. The Cardinal has advanced to the College Cup nine of the last 14 seasons.
 
The Cardinal boast a 9-2-1 record, tied with the Huskies for fourth in the Pac-12 table with a 2-1-0 league record. Stanford is a perfect 5-0-0 at home, including a 2-0 win over then-No. 8 Penn State on Sept. 1.
 
The Cardinal are led in scoring by freshman forward Lumi Kostmayer, who ranks second in the Pac-12 with nine goals on the season, the 11th most in the nation. Additionally, junior forward Samantha Williams has bagged four goals, needing just 13 shots to do so.

Junior Ryan Campbell has seen the bulk of the minutes in goal for Stanford, making 11 starts. Campbell has posted a 0.66 goals against average, registering a .750 save percentage on 21 stops.

SERIES HISTORY
The Huskies will look to buck recent history against the Cardinal. In 33 all-time meetings, Stanford has posted 29 wins, with Washington defeating the Cardinal just twice. Stanford has won 18 straight in the series, with the last Husky win coming in 2004.
 
LAST MEETING (9/30/21)
SEATTLE - Washington fell to No. 14 Stanford, 2-1, on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Husky Soccer Stadium. The Huskies battled back to tie in the second half, but the Cardinal scored late in the 83rd minute for the match-winner.
 
In a high intensity Pac-12 match, both sides were able to create opportunities in the opening half hour. Stanford struck first, opening the scoring in the 42nd minute on a goal by Abby Greubel.
 
Ruby Hellstrom tied it back up for UW in the 57th minute when Summer Yates played a ball in the box and a sliding Hellstrom smoothly put it past the Cardinal goalkeeper. Hellstrom's goal was the first of the season and the sixth in her Husky career. The assist by Yates was her seventh point in the campaign and the 49th total at UW.
 
The match went back and forth in the second half as both sides battled the elements throughout the day.
 
Stanford ultimately scored the winner late in the match when Madison Haley's strike gave the Cardinal a 2-1 lead.

WHAT'S GOOD HOLMES?
After scoring an 87th minute game winner against Utah and dishing out an assist against Colorado, graduate student defender Shae Holmes was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. With the honor, Holmes becomes the first Husky to earn a weekly award from the conference since Olivia Sekany in 2020 and the first Washington player to earn Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week laurels since 2017.
 
For her efforts, Holmes was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, while Summer Yates earned Honorable Mention laurels.

HEATING UP
Helping lead the Huskies to a pair of Pac-12 wins, Summer Yates scored three times last week, moving into a tie for the team lead with four goals in 2022. Yates also ranks second in the conference with six assists. Yates' 10 goals accounted for are tied for the sixth-most in the Pac-12.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Washington's 31 assists are good for the 11th most in the nation and second most in the Pac-12. The Huskies have recorded at least one assist on 21 of their 30 goals on the season, including multiple helpers 10 times.

POLL POSITION
Washington is ranked No. 24 in the TopDrawerSoccer.com rankings, also coming in at No. 23 in the College Soccer News Poll. The Huskies are receiving 11 votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

KICKING MS WITH CLAUDIA
On 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.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Washington's scoring output has come from up and down its roster, with 13 different Huskies scoring a goal. Kyla Ferry, Hailey Still, Karlee Stueckle and Summer Yates are all tied for the team lead with four goals. The Huskies rank fourth in the Pac-12 with 30 goals despite being one of just four teams in the league without a player with at least five goals scored.

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