No. 12 Huskies Face Final Road Test Sunday At Wisconsin - University of Washington Athletics

Sunday, October 25

Madison, Wisc.

11:00 a.m. PT

University of Washington

Wisconsin

Lucy Newlin in the pregame huddle vs. Iowa

October 24, 2026 | Women's Soccer

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MADISON, Wisc. – The Washington women's soccer team will play its final road match of the regular season on Sunday at the No. 12 Huskies face Wisconsin at McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison.

Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. PT, streaming live on B1G+. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN
Wisconsin is in its 20th season under the direction of head coach Paula Wilkins, who has guided the Badgers to 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of College Cups.

The Badgers currently sit seventh in the Big Ten table on 17 points, winning back-to-back matches over Minnesota and Oregon. Wisconsin is 6-2-1 at home in 2026.

Senior Erin Connolly and freshman Jane Rogers are tied for the team lead with four goals each. Freshman midfielder Izzy Traub is tied for the Big Ten lead and ranks seventh nationally with nine assists.

Badger keeper Drew Stover is tied with UW's Tanner Ijams for the Big Ten lead with nine clean sheets, tied for third nationally. Stover boasts a 0.76 goals against average with a .755 save percentage on 37 stops.

SERIES HISTORY
Entering the 2025 season winless in five all-time meetings with Wisconsin, Washington topped the Badgers twice a season ago, 1-0 in the regular season and 2-1 in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals. Nonetheless, Wisconsin leads the all-time series 4-2-1. Sunday's match will be UW's first visit to Madison since 2011.

LAST MEETING (Nov. 6, 2025)
ST. LOUIS - The Washington women's soccer team will play for the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game as the No. 13 Huskies defeated No. 15 Wisconsin 2-1 Thursday at Energizer Park.

Samiah Shell and Maylen Montoya netted first half goals for the Dawgs to propel them to victory, holding off a late push from the Badgers despite being down a player due to a second half red card.

Washington piled on the pressure early on after the opening kickoff, with Alex Buck nearly putting UW ahead less than seven minutes in after Shell forced a turnover in the attacking zone, firing her shot off the wrong side of the left post.

Roughly a half hour later, Shell put the Huskies in front as a trio of Huskies connected with a series of quick-fire passes for the opening goal.

Starting the move herself, Shell clipped in a ball to Buck, who took it down and laid a square ball off to Jadyn Holdenried in the center of the pitch. Holdenried hit it first time, laying the ball right at the feet of a streaking Shell, whose shot was deflected over Badger keeper Drew Stover, bulging the back of the net.

Just over a minute later, the lead was two behind Montoya's first career goal in the 39th minute.

Cutting inside onto her right from the flank, the Husky left back sent a bending ball into the box that evaded not only an outstretched Kelsey Branson but also Stover, hitting the side netting to give Washington a 2-0 halftime lead.

Shortly after the restart, Wisconsin's Kiara Gilmore pulled down Buck on the breakaway, denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity for the Husky striker and garnering a red card, bringing the Badgers down to 10 players for the final 40 minutes.

Throwing numbers forward with nothing to lose, Wisconsin pulled a goal back in the 84th minute on a right footed strike from Adee Boer. However, Washington thwarted the Badger attack the rest of the way, earning a fifth win over a ranked opponent and booking a spot in Sunday's Championship Match.

BEST ON BEST
Washington owns a 7-2-3 record in 12 matches against ranked opponents over the last two seasons, including 1-1-1 in 2026.

KEEPING IT 100
With five saves at UCLA, Husky keeper Tanner Ijams eclipsed the century mark in career saves at Washington. Ijams stands at 105 stops in just two seasons for UW.

LOCK DOWN DEFENDERS
Contributing on both ends of the pitch in UW's 2-0-0 opening week of conference play, second year Maylen Montoya was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for Week Five, her second weekly award. The outside back was also selected to TopDrawerSoccer's Team of the Week after holding Maryland and Rutgers to nine total shots across a pair of clean sheets, also scoring the match-winner against the Terrapins.

Maya Loudd joined Montoya with her second career DPOTW nod for Week 8, earning the nod after helping the Dawgs hold USC to a single shot on goal. Loudd also contributed offensively with a pair of shots, one on frame.

FAR FROM MID
Earlier in the week, third year attacker Alex Buck was named to the Mid-Season Watch List for the 2026 MAC Hermann Trophy, the highest individual honor in college soccer. Despite missing significant time through national team duty, Buck is among 30 of the nation's elite players in consideration for the prestigious award.

CLEAN SHEET COLLECTOR
In less than two seasons' time, Tanner Ijams has placed herself in rarified air. With the shutout win over USC, the Californian passed legendary keeper Hope Solo for sole possession of third place all-time at Washington in career clean sheets, currently sitting at 20. Part way through her second season of playing time, Ijams is just one shutout shy of Megan Kufeld's school record of 21.

BACK TO FRONT
A key change to UW's attack in 2026 is the goal contributions from the defensive unit. Five of Washington's 21 goals this season have been scored by players on the back line with Maylen Montoya and Anna Menti each bagging a pair of goals apiece in addition to Maya Loudd's lone goal. In comparison, Montoya's goal versus Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament was UW's loan goal contribution from the defensive unit in 2025.

POLL POSITION
Washington climbed up two spots to No. 12 in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches Poll. It is the 16th straight week UW has appeared in the poll. UW also continues to be ranked in the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25, slotting in at No. 11.

STACKING BRICKS
The Huskies have demonstrated one of the nation's stingiest defenses over the last two-plus season, tying the program record for clean sheets with 11 in 2024 before breaking said record with 12 shutouts in 2025. UW's 33 clean sheets since the start of the 2024 season are tied for the third most in the nation.

Most Shutouts since 2024
UCLA – 36
Utah State – 34
Washington - 33
Saint Louis - 33
Dayton - 32
Georgetown – 32
Lipscomb - 31
Mississippi State – 31
North Carolina - 31

TOP DRAWER TALENT
Washington had two players listed in TopDrawerSoccer's Top-100 player rankings, with third year forward Alex Buck slotting in at No. 26 and third year goalkeeper Tanner Ijams coming in at No. 65. Buck, who was also named TopDrawerSoccer Third Team Best XI, ranked third in the Big Ten in points in 2025, while Ijams' 0.67 GAA was the fourth-lowest in a season in Husky history, tying the program record for single season clean sheets with 11.

VET SCHOOL
Washington boasts a roster laden with experience, with 17 of 30 Huskies in their third collegiate season or later. Of the eight returning starters for Washington, seven own at least two seasons of collegiate experience. Included in the group of veteran leaders for UW are fifth years Lucy Newlin and Avery Nguyen, who return for a final season after receiving waivers this offseason, as well as sixth-year South Dakota State transfer Taylor Thomas.

WINNER'S MENTALITY
Of the 11 goals scored by Jadyn Holdenried since the start of 2025, eight have been match-winners, the most by any Husky in that time frame. The fourth year, who entered last season with four total goals in her first two seasons, has scored 11 times since. UW is 14-0-1 all-time when Holdenried scores.

JUST WIN, BABY
15 of Washington's last 19 wins have come by a single goal, including 12 1-0 victories. UW has won 18 matches by one goal since the start of the 2025 season.

SAVING HER BEST
Alex Buck has scored 13 of her 14 career goals after the start of conference play, including nine such goals in 2025, tied for the most in the Big Ten.

ON THE WORLD STAGE
Alex Buck and Grace Duncan recently experienced the great honor of representing their home nations at the U20 World Cup in Poland, suiting up for the USWNT and the Football Ferns of New Zealand, respectively. The two sides met up during the group stage, a win for the USA in which Buck scored twice. Buck finished the tournament with three goals, tying for the US lead.

YOU CAN FIND ME IN DA CLUB
One of the more unique paths to the Husky roster comes from junior Avery Nguyen, who was offered a roster spot prior to the start of the 2023 season after a trial during preseason training. A native of the Kansas City metro area and a former standout for Olathe Northwest High School and Sporting Blue Valley, Nguyen led the UW club team in scoring as a college freshman in 2022.

Nguyen has become one of UW's most dangerous weapons either in the starting XI or off the bench, registering five goals and three assists over the last two seasons.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATION
Washington was picked to finish third in its title-defending season in the 2026 Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll, receiving the third-most votes behind predicted champion Michigan State and UCLA. UW was selected ninth in the 2025 iteration of the preseason poll, going on to win the regular season title with a match in hand.

DEFEND THE THRONE
Washington enters 2026 with a target on its back, winning the Big Ten double a season ago as the league's regular season and conference champions, UW's first conference championship since 2000. UW became the first league team to claim the Big Ten double since Minnesota in 2016 and the first school to win both championships undisputed since Nebraska in 2013.

THE NOTORIOUS NVD
Washington locked up reigning unanimous Big Ten Coach of the Year Nicole Van Dyke this offseason, inking the Husky gaffer to a contract extension through the 2030 season. The extension comes after Van Dyke led the Dawgs to the NCAA Elite Eight for the third time on program-history, the third NCAA Tournament bid during Van Dyke's UW tenure. In her six seasons on Montlake, Van Dyke has guided Washington to 60 wins and has developed 15 all-conference players, including All-Americans Summer Yates, Kolo Suliafu and Alex Buck.

HERE TO ASSIST
The Washington sideline will have a new look this season with three new assistant coaches manning the bench.

Whitney Pitalo joins the UW staff after serving as head coach at Cal State Bakersfield in 2025. Pitalo previously resided in the Evergreen State as an assistant coach at Gonzaga, earning United Soccer Coaches West Region Staff of the Year honors in 2023.

Paige Brandt will direct the development of the Husky goalkeepers, coaching All-WCC Honorable Mention keeper Mya Sanchez during her lone season in the same role at Oregon State.

After three seasons as UW's program coordinator, Husky alum Mary Walstad joins the coaching staff in 2026. Walstad appeared in 42 matches with 38 starts over four seasons at Washington from 2019-2022.

IN IT TO TWIN IT
Five different Husky players are a part of a twin or triplet pairing in Vanessa Aguilar, Ryan Boehm, Angelica Chou, Grace Duncan and Mary Camp Newton. In fact, Boehm faced off against twin sister Myra earlier in the season when UW faced Gonzaga, while Newton's sister Ridley plays for defending NCAA Division III National Champion Washington University in St. Louis.

Twin/Triplet Connections on UW's Roster
Vanessa & Michelle Aguilar
Ryan & Myra Boehm
Angelica & Colin Chou
Grace & Maddy Duncan
Mary Camp, Ridley & Sutherland Newton

LEFT SIDE, BEST SIDE
Of the 30 members of Washington's 2026 roster, 22 hail from West Coast states, featuring 11 homegrown products of Washington, 10 natives of California and one player from the Portland suburbs in Oregon. However, Washington's squad spans the US and globe, with natives of Georgia, Kansas, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia as well as a pair of internationals from Belgium and New Zealand donning the Purple and Gold.

SMART COOKIES
For the 11th-straight season, Washington has received the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award after posting a 3.50 cumulative GPA team GPA.

At the individual level, fifth year Lucy Newlin received UW's Academic Excellence Award for 2026 for graduating with the highest cumulative GPA among graduating student-athletes at 3.98. Newlin also received the Big Ten's Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship and was one of two UW student-athletes to receive the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award in 2024-25.

MENTI BE
Anna and Sally Menti, who starred at Roosevelt High School, less than three miles from Husky Soccer Stadium, have shared different paths to playing in front of their home state fans. Sally was an All-American midfielder at Santa Clara before signing a short-term contract and later a two-year extension last season with the NWSL's Seattle Reign, making 42 appearances and 25 starts with three goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Anna is in her fourth season at UW, making 77 appearances with 63 starts and collecting three goals and three assists along the way.

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