No. 8/2 Washington Welcomes Utah Valley

SEATTLE – The No. 8/2 Washington men’s soccer team closes out the homestand when it welcomes Utah Valley on Friday night. Kickoff from Husky Soccer Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.
 
UW-UTAH VALLEY HISTORY 
The two teams have met three times in program history. Washington leads the all-time series 2-1 with the last meeting coming on Sept. 16, 2021 when the Huskies traveled to Orem, Utah and won the game 2-1 in overtime.
 
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Utah Valley sits at 1-0-1 on the season. In their last outing, the Wolverines went to No. 5 Oregon State and played the Beavers to a 0-0 draw.
 
Aaron Nicon and Ben Ortiz lead the team with a goal a piece, while Alejandro Silva has an assist. Diego Castillo and Silva were named to the All-WAC Preseason Team as UVU was picked to finish fourth in the conference.
 
INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION 
Senior goalkeeper Sam Fowler is entering his final year with a load of preseason accolades, including being named to the United Soccer Coaches Player to Watch List and MAC Hermann Watch List, while also ranking No. 8 on the Top Drawer Soccer Top 100.
 
Fowler was also named Top Drawer Preseason Best XI First Team and College Soccer News Preseason First Team All-America. Fowler recorded 62 saves during the 2021 campaign with a 79.5 save percentage.  
 
Junior Midfielder Christian Soto was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI Second Team, as well as ranking 15^th on the Top Drawer Soccer Top 100. Soto played and started in 20 games for the Huskies last year and notched four assists on the year. He was named the first Pac-12 Player of the Week on Aug. 29 after opening the season with his first career brace in Washington’s season-opening win over Sacramento State.
 
Rounding out the preseason honors is first-year midfielder Richie Aman who was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Freshman Best XI.  
 
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR 
Head coach Jamie Clark is two wins away from 150 at the helm of Washington. His 148 wins is the second most for a UW men’s soccer coach, behind Dean Wurzberger (1992-2010). 
 
Sam Fowler has 22 shutouts in his career, which is fourth in program history and seventh in Pac-12 history. He would need eight more for the Pac-12 career record and nine more for the school record.
 
UP NEXT 
Washington goes on the road for the first time this season as they make the trek across county to play South…