SEATTLE – Washington is set to for a road matchup with PNW rival No. 22 Portland to open the 2024 campaign on Friday night. Kickoff from Merlo Field is set for 7 p.m. and streaming on ESPN+.
It is the first time since 2016 the Dawgs have started the season on the road.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Since 1997, the Huskies have posted a 181-66-21 overall record at Husky Soccer Stadium, winning at least eight matches in 13 seasons including a 10-1-2 mark in 2013. In 2022, the Huskies set a new program record for single-match attendance when 3,876 people came to see Washington take on Seattle U in the Fewing Cup (formerly WAC/101 Club Cup).
ROAD DAWGS
Dating back to the 2019 season, the Huskies are 26-6-8 in road contests. UW went undefeated in road matches twice during that span in 2022 (5-0-2) and 2021 (8-0-1). The Huskies also won eight road matches in 2019.
RANKED MATCHUPS
Since the 2019 season, the Huskies are 12-2-4 against ranked opponents in the regular season. Last season, Washington went 3-1-2 against ranked teams. UW went undefeated against ranked opponents twice in that span in 2022 (2-0-1) and 2019 (3-0-0).
THE RETURNERS
Plenty of experience returns for Washington with 24 returners from the 2023 team, including all-conference honorees Chris Meyers and Richie Aman. The Huskies return 61% of their goal production led by with Peter Kingston, Nick O’Brien, Mani Diop and Sean Sent who all had two goals apiece. UW also has 50% of their assists returning led by Kingston (5), Aman (4) and Cooper Brunell (3). O’Brien, Harrison Bertos and Joe Dale all had one assist. Kingston, Aman and Sent were all named to the Big Ten preseason players to watch list, that was announced earlier this week.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The Huskies brought in some new talent with six freshman and two transfers – Caden Buckley (Santa Clara) and Rhys Gourdie (San Diego). The WCC transfer duo were named to the all-conference team a season ago and have earned a conference championship at least once in their career. Incoming freshman, Zach Ramsey was named the 2023-24 Washington Boy’s Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year after a stellar season at Mount Si. Ramsey is the first UW commit from the state of Washington to be named Gatorade player of the year since Michael Rojas in 2019. He is the second state Gatorade player of the…
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