Huskies, Cougars Host Utah Soccer’s Final Pac-12’s Road Tilts

SALT LAKE CITY – Only five more matches remain on the 2023 regular season schedule for the University of Utah women’s soccer team and the Utes’ last two chance to add to their resume on the road will take them to the Evergreen State to face a pair of foes aiming to accomplish the same feat.
 
Utah’s road trip begins on Thursday, when they’ll lock horns with the Washington Huskies at 4 p.m. PT (5 p.m. MT) at Husky Soccer Stadium in Seattle, followed by a Sunday showdown with the Washington State Cougars at 1 p.m. PT at Lower Soccer Field in Pullman, Wash.
 

 
Scouting Washington
The Huskies got off to a rough start when Pac-12 play began, dropping their first four conference fixtures, but they rebounded with a come-from-behind victory over Arizona on Oct. 8, then battled No. 2 Stanford to a draw on the road six days later. Coach Nicole Van Dyke and her squad will be attempting to ride that momentum and put together a late season run that will propel Washington to the NCAA tournament for the 17th time in program history.
 
A total of 11 different players have found the back of the net for the Huskies through 14 matchups, with Ioanna Papatheodorou’s four scores sitting at the top of the leaderboard. The junior from Greece also has a team-high four assists, two of which came against the Wildcats and she added another at the expense of the Cardinal. Freshman Maya Loudd recorded the first brace of her collegiate career to help her team dispose of Arizona, while Kelsey Branson has scored in each of Washington’s last three contests.
 
One player who played perhaps the most important role in the Huskies tie with the Cardinal was keeper Olivia Juarez, who racked up 12 saves, the seventh-most in a single match in Washington history. Juarez has started every match but one in 2023, which has represented…