By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – To begin their 2022 campaign, the University of Washington Men's soccer team found the back of the net three times to down Sacramento state. Coming off of their national championship appearance last season, lofty expectations have been set for the Huskies. An opening game like this kicks the year off with a bang, and sets the Huskies on the right course.
Christian Soto celebrates his second goal of the match (Photo by Melissa Levin)
Soto starts the season sizzling
Washington midfielder Christian Soto, an unsung player on last year's roster, started his 2022 season on fire. Soto opened the scoring off for the Huskies, scoring on a cross from defender Chris Myers in the 13th minute. Washington was able to penetrate the Sacramento State defense, as Soto was left open to fire off the shot on one touch.
To complete Soto’s brace, the midfielder took a headed away ball and turned it into a goal. Soto watched the ball in, and volleyed it home past Sacramento State keeper Max Learned for Washington’s second goal of the game. Soto’s heads up play turned a cleared cross into a brace for himself, and an extended lead for his team.
Gio Miglietti will help anchor the backline (Photo by Melissa Levin)
Defense remains stout
A key to every successful club is the way that their defense performs, and that was major factor with last year's team. With the defensive losses of Charlie Ostrem, Ryan Sailor, and Achille Robin, what was to make of this year's backline? Gio Miglietti and Nate Jones were in front of keeper Sam Fowler, which is surprising. Miglietti played primarily as an attacker last season, but revealed to me in an interview this offseason that he was getting back to defense. The new defense worked it’s wonders in this match, as Sacramento State didn’t notch a shot until the 60th minute, and it wasn’t even on target.
Lucas Meek scored the third goal of the match (Photo by Melissa Levin)
Overcoming big graduations
The Huskies have some big graduations to overcome in the forms of Charlie Ostrem, Dylan Teves, Ryan Sailor, Kendall Burks and a few others. This game showed that, to an extent, there are players capable of filling in those shoes this season. By no means am I saying that those players have for sure been replaced adequately, but this opening game is a solid indicator that the program could be still in its winning ways.
What’s next?
The Huskies get back to work on Monday, when they welcome the Central Arkansas bears to town. Kickoff for the August 29th matchup at Husky soccer stadium is at 7:30PM PST. The Huskies will look to create a winning streak and make it two wins in a row.
Comments