Sunday, August 23
Seattle, Wash.
2:00 p.m. PT
University of Washington
vs
Montana
Washington, Montana Meet Sunday In NCAA First Round Rematch In Seattle
August 22, 2026 | Women's Soccer
SEATTLE – Looking to start the season with three wins for the first time in over a decade, the No. 10 Washington women's soccer team returns home Sunday to face Montana at 2:00 p.m. PT at Husky Soccer Stadium.
The affair will be a rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament First Round match on Montlake between the Huskies and Grizzlies, in which UW advanced 2-0 in front of a boisterous crowd of 2,564.
Sunday's tilt will be the annual Camper Reunion Match at Husky Soccer Stadium, with UW campers wearing their camp t-shirt receiving free admission. Additionally, Washington players will be signing autographs following the day's action.
The match will be available for streaming through B1G+. Links to live coverage are available on the women's soccer schedule page at GoHuskies.com.
SCOUTING MONTANA
Montana is in its first season under the direction of head coach Stuart Gore, who made the move to Missoula after three seasons at Troy. Gore owns 140 wins across over a decade as a head coach, guiding Northwestern Ohio to an NAIA National Championship in 2016.
With a new-look roster from last season's Big Sky Championship team, the Grizzlies feature 17 newcomers in 2026. Montana is off to an 0-2-0 start after losses to Bucknell and Seattle U, being outshot 48-11.
Picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Preseason poll, Montana is seeking its first goal of the season entering its third match. The Grizz are led by senior defender Lucie Rokos, who was named Preseason All-Big Sky Team.
Junior Avery Heeb has started both matches for Montana after transferring from USC Upstate, starting her career at West Georgia. Heeb owns a 2.83 GAA in 2026, making six saves for a .545 percentage.
Montana has five Washington natives on its roster, including King County products Mia Draper, Stella Handin and Grace Russell.
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's meeting will be the 10th all-time between Washington and Montana and a rematch of last season's NCAA First Round match at Husky Soccer Stadium, in which Alex Buck's brace lifted Washington to a 2-0 result en route to the Elite Eight. UW owns an 8-1-0 advantage in the series, winning five straight over the Grizzlies. Montana last defeated the Huskies in 1997.
LAST MEETING (Nov. 14, 2026)
SEATTLE - Alex Buck netted her second brace of the season to lift fourth-seeded Washington past Montana on Friday, sending the Huskies to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
The win came in front of a raucous crowd of 2,564 fans, the sixth-largest in program-history.
Washington dominated possession all night long, finishing with an 18-2 advantage in shots, putting 10 attempts on goal.
After a handful of early warning shots, Washington struck first in the 11th minute on Alex Buck's seventh of the season.
Taking Maylen Montoya's throw in from the sideline, the Husky striker chested the ball toward goal and cut onto her right, unleashing a whipped, low shot that snuck into the narrowest of gaps between a diving Ashlyn Dvorak and the near post, putting the Huskies ahead 1-0.
Just when it looked like the final scoreline was destined for a 1-0 scoreline, Buck picked off the ball 80 yards from goal and charged forward, striding past several defenders before beating Dvorak low, hitting the back of the net with a 90th-minute dagger to send the Dawgs to Charlottesville.
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.
POLL POSITION
Washington is ranked 12th in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, the Huskies' highest preseason ranking since 2001 (7th) and the second-highest preseason ranking in program history. The Dawgs also climbed one spot to No. 3 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25, tied for the program's highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in 2000, also climbing to No. 3 in 2025.
STARTING STRONG
Washington is seeking its first 3-0-0 start since the 2014 season, when the Huskies defeated Kentucky, La Salle and Pittsburgh en route to a 16-9-2 overall record.
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 25 clean sheets since the start of the 2024 season are tied for the ninth-most in the nation, tied for fifth among Power Five programs.
Most Combined Shutouts since 2024
Georgetown – 27
Saint Louis - 27
Dayton - 26
Florida State - 26
Mississippi State – 26
Montana – 26
North Carolina - 26
UCLA – 26
Washington - 25
Duke – 25
Lipscomb – 25
Utah State – 25
Virginia - 25
TOP DRAWER TALENT
Washington has 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.
THREE TO WATCH
Washington boasts three players among the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches MAC Hermann Trophy Positional Players to Watch. The Dawgs are represented up and down the field with defender Maya Loudd, midfielder Jadyn Holdenried and forward Alex Buck tabbed to their respective lists.
SAVING HER BEST
In her first two college seasons, Alex Buck has scored all 10 of her career goals after the start of conference play, including nine such goals in 2025, tied for the most in the Big Ten.
WINNER'S MENTALITY
Of the eight goals scored by Jadyn Holdenried since the start of 2025, six 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 eight times since. UW is 11-0-1 all-time when Holdenried scores.
HITTING THE WORLD STAGE
Alex Buck and Grace Duncan will represent their home nations at the U20 World Cup in Poland in September, suiting up for the USWNT and the Football Ferns of New Zealand, respectively. Slotted in Group D, the two teammates will face off on Sept. 12 at Arena Sosnowiec.
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 off the bench as a senior, scoring three times this season against Idaho, Minnesota and Oregon. Nguyen has made 35 career appearances for Washington.
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.
2026 Big Ten Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Michigan State
2. UCLA
3. Washington
4. Wisconsin
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. USC
8. Northwestern
9. Illinois
10. Iowa
11. Michigan
12. Nebraska
13. Purdue
14. Minnesota
15. Rutgers
16. Indiana
17. Maryland
18. Oregon
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.
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.
NATTY TEAM CALLING
This summer, All-American forward Alex Buck has played all across the country and globe, representing the Stars and Stripes with the U20 United States Women's National Team. Earning her first national team caps, Buck has been rostered for friendlies against Brazil, England and Columbia stateside, while traveling across the pond to Spain to take on France.
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 32 appearances and 20 starts with three goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Anna is in her fourth season at UW, making 63 appearances with 49 starts and collecting two goals and three assists along the way.
TURN ON THE TUBE
Washington will be featured in front of a national audience on the Big Ten Network three times during the regular season, tied for the most of any conference member. The Huskies' home battles with Maryland and Rutgers will both air on the network, while October's road trip to Tinsel Town will get the big screen treatment as Washington takes on UCLA. All UW home matches not selected for the Big Ten Network will be available for streaming through B1G+.
For more information on Husky Women's Soccer, follow @UW_WSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.
The affair will be a rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament First Round match on Montlake between the Huskies and Grizzlies, in which UW advanced 2-0 in front of a boisterous crowd of 2,564.
Sunday's tilt will be the annual Camper Reunion Match at Husky Soccer Stadium, with UW campers wearing their camp t-shirt receiving free admission. Additionally, Washington players will be signing autographs following the day's action.
The match will be available for streaming through B1G+. Links to live coverage are available on the women's soccer schedule page at GoHuskies.com.
SCOUTING MONTANA
Montana is in its first season under the direction of head coach Stuart Gore, who made the move to Missoula after three seasons at Troy. Gore owns 140 wins across over a decade as a head coach, guiding Northwestern Ohio to an NAIA National Championship in 2016.
With a new-look roster from last season's Big Sky Championship team, the Grizzlies feature 17 newcomers in 2026. Montana is off to an 0-2-0 start after losses to Bucknell and Seattle U, being outshot 48-11.
Picked to finish seventh in the Big Sky Preseason poll, Montana is seeking its first goal of the season entering its third match. The Grizz are led by senior defender Lucie Rokos, who was named Preseason All-Big Sky Team.
Junior Avery Heeb has started both matches for Montana after transferring from USC Upstate, starting her career at West Georgia. Heeb owns a 2.83 GAA in 2026, making six saves for a .545 percentage.
Montana has five Washington natives on its roster, including King County products Mia Draper, Stella Handin and Grace Russell.
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's meeting will be the 10th all-time between Washington and Montana and a rematch of last season's NCAA First Round match at Husky Soccer Stadium, in which Alex Buck's brace lifted Washington to a 2-0 result en route to the Elite Eight. UW owns an 8-1-0 advantage in the series, winning five straight over the Grizzlies. Montana last defeated the Huskies in 1997.
LAST MEETING (Nov. 14, 2026)
SEATTLE - Alex Buck netted her second brace of the season to lift fourth-seeded Washington past Montana on Friday, sending the Huskies to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
The win came in front of a raucous crowd of 2,564 fans, the sixth-largest in program-history.
Washington dominated possession all night long, finishing with an 18-2 advantage in shots, putting 10 attempts on goal.
After a handful of early warning shots, Washington struck first in the 11th minute on Alex Buck's seventh of the season.
Taking Maylen Montoya's throw in from the sideline, the Husky striker chested the ball toward goal and cut onto her right, unleashing a whipped, low shot that snuck into the narrowest of gaps between a diving Ashlyn Dvorak and the near post, putting the Huskies ahead 1-0.
Just when it looked like the final scoreline was destined for a 1-0 scoreline, Buck picked off the ball 80 yards from goal and charged forward, striding past several defenders before beating Dvorak low, hitting the back of the net with a 90th-minute dagger to send the Dawgs to Charlottesville.
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.
POLL POSITION
Washington is ranked 12th in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, the Huskies' highest preseason ranking since 2001 (7th) and the second-highest preseason ranking in program history. The Dawgs also climbed one spot to No. 3 in the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25, tied for the program's highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in 2000, also climbing to No. 3 in 2025.
STARTING STRONG
Washington is seeking its first 3-0-0 start since the 2014 season, when the Huskies defeated Kentucky, La Salle and Pittsburgh en route to a 16-9-2 overall record.
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 25 clean sheets since the start of the 2024 season are tied for the ninth-most in the nation, tied for fifth among Power Five programs.
Most Combined Shutouts since 2024
Georgetown – 27
Saint Louis - 27
Dayton - 26
Florida State - 26
Mississippi State – 26
Montana – 26
North Carolina - 26
UCLA – 26
Washington - 25
Duke – 25
Lipscomb – 25
Utah State – 25
Virginia - 25
TOP DRAWER TALENT
Washington has 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.
THREE TO WATCH
Washington boasts three players among the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches MAC Hermann Trophy Positional Players to Watch. The Dawgs are represented up and down the field with defender Maya Loudd, midfielder Jadyn Holdenried and forward Alex Buck tabbed to their respective lists.
SAVING HER BEST
In her first two college seasons, Alex Buck has scored all 10 of her career goals after the start of conference play, including nine such goals in 2025, tied for the most in the Big Ten.
WINNER'S MENTALITY
Of the eight goals scored by Jadyn Holdenried since the start of 2025, six 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 eight times since. UW is 11-0-1 all-time when Holdenried scores.
HITTING THE WORLD STAGE
Alex Buck and Grace Duncan will represent their home nations at the U20 World Cup in Poland in September, suiting up for the USWNT and the Football Ferns of New Zealand, respectively. Slotted in Group D, the two teammates will face off on Sept. 12 at Arena Sosnowiec.
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 off the bench as a senior, scoring three times this season against Idaho, Minnesota and Oregon. Nguyen has made 35 career appearances for Washington.
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.
2026 Big Ten Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Michigan State
2. UCLA
3. Washington
4. Wisconsin
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. USC
8. Northwestern
9. Illinois
10. Iowa
11. Michigan
12. Nebraska
13. Purdue
14. Minnesota
15. Rutgers
16. Indiana
17. Maryland
18. Oregon
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.
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.
NATTY TEAM CALLING
This summer, All-American forward Alex Buck has played all across the country and globe, representing the Stars and Stripes with the U20 United States Women's National Team. Earning her first national team caps, Buck has been rostered for friendlies against Brazil, England and Columbia stateside, while traveling across the pond to Spain to take on France.
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 32 appearances and 20 starts with three goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Anna is in her fourth season at UW, making 63 appearances with 49 starts and collecting two goals and three assists along the way.
TURN ON THE TUBE
Washington will be featured in front of a national audience on the Big Ten Network three times during the regular season, tied for the most of any conference member. The Huskies' home battles with Maryland and Rutgers will both air on the network, while October's road trip to Tinsel Town will get the big screen treatment as Washington takes on UCLA. All UW home matches not selected for the Big Ten Network will be available for streaming through B1G+.
For more information on Husky Women's Soccer, follow @UW_WSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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