Undefeated Huskies Host Rutgers For Sunday Matinee

Sunday, September 13

Seattle, Wash.

1:00 p.m. PT

University of Washington

Rutgers

Tickets From $13

Tanner Ijams celebrates Washington's 2-0 win over Maryland

September 12, 2026 | Women's Soccer

UW Notes Rutgers Notes Watch Live Stats Tickets

SEATTLE – Looking to finish off a perfect opening weekend to Big Ten play, the No. 12 Washington women's soccer team will play host to Rutgers Sunday afternoon at Husky Soccer Stadium.

Celebrating UW's Hispanic Heritage Match, the first 150 fans in attendance will receive a "Los Huskies" hat.

Kickoff Sunday is set for 1:00 p.m. PT, airing on the Big Ten Network. Links to live coverage are available at GoHuskies.com.

SCOUTING RUTGERS
Mike O'Neill is in his 13th season as the head coach at Rutgers, his 27th season with the program in total. Under O'Neill the Scarlet Knights have earned an NCAA Tournament bid in 11 of 12 seasons and made two College Cup appearances.

Failing to earn a tournament bid for the first time under O'Neill in 2025, Rutgers enters Sunday's match with a 2-1-3 record in 2026, starting Big Ten play with a 1-0 road win at Oregon on Thursday.

Forwards Lilia Calvert and Ashley Baran have each scored twice this season to lead RU, with Calvert also dishing out an assist to pace the team in points at five.

Veteran keeper Olivia Bodmer is back for her fourth season between the posts for the Scarlet Knights. The redshirt-senior has allowed nine goals in six matches for a 1.50 GAA, posting a .791 save percentage on 34 stops.

SERIES HISTORY
Washington and Rutgers have squared off four times previously, with the Scarlet Knights owning a 3-1-0 advantage in the series. RU's 1-0 win in Piscataway in 2024 was the first meeting between the two sides since 2010 in Portland. Rutgers has not visited Seattle since 1997, a 3-4 win for the road team.

LAST MEETING (Sept. 22, 2024)
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Washington gave Rutgers about all it could handle in Sunday's Big Ten clash but couldn't find an equalizer on a warm New Jersey day, falling 1-0 at Yercak Field.

In a reverse of Thursday's match at Maryland, the Huskies fell behind early, surrendering a fourth minute goal to Riley Tiernan to put Rutgers up 1-0.

Chasing the equalizer, Washington quickly responded to the early deficit and largely controlled the pace of play through the rest of the opening 45.

The Huskies' best chance to tie came in the 23rd minute on the counter as Samiah Shell intercepted in the attacking third and found Tatum Thomason, who fed a through ball in to Kelsey Branson. Branson fired a shot bound for goal but the attempt was stopped by a charging Olivia Bodmer.

Washington continued to press forward and control possession in the second half, creating several dangerous opportunities on the attack. However, the final ball never dropped for the Dawgs, dropping their first Big Ten road match.

UNBLEMISHED
With its 1-0 win over Seattle U, Washington completed just the third undefeated non-conference season in program history at 5-0-1. The previous two undefeated campaigns were both seen out by Nicole Van Dyke, in the spring of 2021 and the 2022 season.

BACK TO FRONT
A key change to UW's attack in 2026 is the goal contributions from the defensive unit. Four of Washington's 12 goals this season have been scored by players on the back line with Maylen Montoya and Anna Menti each tied for the team lead in goals at two apiece. In comparison, Montoya's goal versus Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament was UW's loan goal contribution from the defensive unit in 2025.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Washington is one of just 22 teams across the country to have allowed two or fewer goals in 2026. UW's meager .286 goals against average is tied for the eighth lowest in the nation.

POLL POSITION
Washington sits at No. 12 in the IWSOC/United Soccer Coaches Poll. It is the 10th straight week UW has appeared in the poll. In the TopDrawerSoccer Top-25, the Huskies slid back four spots after a 1-0-1 week last week, coming in at No. 6 nationally.

JUST WIN, BABY
11 of Washington's last 15 wins have come by a single goal, including eight 1-0 victories. UW has won 14 matches by one goal since the start of the 2025 season.

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 28 clean sheets since the start of the 2024 season are tied for the second-most in the nation.

Most Shutouts since 2024
Georgetown – 30
Washington - 28
Mississippi State – 28
North Carolina - 28
Saint Louis - 28
Utah State – 28
Montana – 27
Lipscomb – 27
UCLA – 27
Dayton - 26
Duke – 26
Florida State - 26

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
Alex Buck has scored all 11 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 nine 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 nine times since. UW is 12-0-1 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. Group play for both players began on Sept. 6.

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.

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.

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.

IN IT TO TWIN IT
Four different Husky players are a part of a twin or triplet pairing in Vanessa Aguilar, Ryan Boehm, Angelica Chou and Mary Camp Newton. In fact, Boehm faced off against twin sister Myra Thursday versus 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
Mary Camp, Ridley & Sutherland Newton

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 35 appearances and 23 starts with three goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Anna is in her fourth season at UW, making 67 appearances with 53 starts and collecting three 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 news, scores, highlights and more, download the Go Huskies app on your mobile device. Follow @UW_WSoccer on Instagram, X, Threads, Facebook and TikTok and subscribe to UW Athletics on YouTube for the latest on the Dawgs.