Huskies shut out Aztecs, await huge home match against UCLA

#11 Ben Fisk (file photo) scored the winner for Washington early on last night as the Huskies beat the Aztecs 2:0. (Wilson Tsoi)

SEATTLE, Wash.—The Washington Huskies beat the San Diego State Aztecs 2:0 on Friday night at a soggy Husky Soccer Field to maintain their first-place status in the Pac-12. Next comes a chance to clinch the league title at home on Monday October 29 against UCLA.

“It was a great game,” head coach Jamie Clark told the school athletic website. “It was probably the most complete game we have played all season. The whole group was confident, composed and had the most belief I’ve seen all season just knowing not only will would win but we would win comfortably.”

“It was a must-win game for us,” said senior Ben Fisk. “It’s great to score goals early in games because teams aren’t settled in the game yet so it’s great when we do because then we can settle and play our style.”

Fisk (Federal Way, Wash.) scored the game-winner just four minutes into the match. Freshman James Moberg (Windsor, Calif.) added a second goal in the 67th minute.

Junior goalkeeper Spencer Richey (Seattle, Wash.) made five saves and some key ones off of the feet of Kevin Bick and Jordan Ongaro who were dangerous up front the entire night for the Aztecs.

With eight shutouts on the year, Richey is tied for fifth in a single-season in school history. His 23 career shutouts are third all-time at the UW behind Mark Schuur from the 1982 team.

Speaking of 1982…the current Huskies hosted and honored the bunch from 30 years ago at the SDSU match. There was also a nice article about that season at GoHuskies.com.

The 18-2-1 record from that season is still the best mark in school history. No other team has tallied 18 wins. They advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to San Francisco on penalty kicks.

The 2012 Huskies are now 11-3-3 overall and 6-0-2 in Pac-12 play. Eleven different Huskies have scored goals this season, led by the seven of senior Dylan Tucker-Gangnes. Three Dawgs have three goals each.

#15 James Moberg is a freshman star for Washington. He scored his third goal of the year to clinch another Pac-12 triumph. (Wilson Tsoi / file photo)

Bruins well ahead of Huskies in national polls

Despite Washington’s 2:1 win at UCLA earlier in the season, coaches and national voters still see the UCLA Bruins as well ahead of the Dawgs. On Friday night UCLA beat the Beavers of Oregon State 2:1 in Corvallis.  UCLA is ranked as high as 6th, the Huskies as high as 19th.

“We came to Corvallis to get a win and that’s exactly what we did,” head coach Jorge Salcedo said after the match. “Everyone has talked about our game on Monday night, but our guys knew today’s game was very important. We now have two days to prepare and be ready to go against Washington.”

UCLA (10-2-2, 5-1-0 Pac-12) will play their last road match of the regular season when they clash with the 24th-ranked Huskies (11-3-3, 6-0-2 Pac-12) on Monday, Oct. 29 at 7 pm. The match will be nationally televised live by the Pac-12 Networks.

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