Eli Special: Seattle U Womens Soccer fueled by Wash players headed to WAC tourney

10/26/2024

(Seattle, WA) Saturday night was the final game of the regular season for Seattle U and it was Senior night. ESN’s own Tony Davila was asked to fill in as their play-by-play announcer for the ESPN+ broadcast so it was a great chance for ESN to take in the game and what we found was quite amazing. First, we need to thank former ESN and still fill-in when he can find time Russell Brown for the invitation. Brown moved on from Eli Sports becoming a full time Athletics staff member at Seattle U and this year was promoted to Assistant Director of Communications.

Redhawks Family Culture

What we quickly found at Seattle University was that family culture every coach hopes they can instill in their program regardless of sport. That feel of something special permeates this program and it all starts with the leader who has made consistency the first priority.

The Seattle University Redhawks have been under the ever watchful eye of Head Coach Julie Woodward who is in her 28th season and she has created a true family culture in the middle of the Emerald City. Prior to taking the Head Coaching position in 1997 Woodward was a 2-time All America player for the Redhawks and was selected to the NW Collegiate All-Conference team for 4 straight years from 1989-1993. Woodward earned has earned her credibility both as a player and as a coach.

Her coaching record coming into the season at Seattle U is 356-164-62 or a 61% win rate or 71% win or tie percent. The Redhawks have 8 NCAA Tournament appearances under Woodward and she has been the Western Athletic Conference’s Coach of the Year twice in 2013 and 2019, she was also inducted into the Seattle U Hall of Fame as a player and no doubt when her coaching career ends will be a double inductee.

Woodward’s associate Head Coach Rich Schreiner has been with the Redhawks for 17 years. Assistant and head of recruiting Chris Wells is in his 7th season and the newcomer to the coaching staff Haley Kopmeyer the keeper coach is in her 3rd year.

In a world of college coaches hop-scotching all over the country the Redhawks can tell their players with an honest face they will be here for them, there is not going to be a rotating number of coaches here 1 year and gone the next. Players can count on the family culture the Redhawks talk about because it is real.

Senior Night Game

The Saturday night game was the final conference game of the season and one last chance to improve position in the NCAA’s Western Athletic Conference. Seattle U was tied for 2nd trailing the team they were hosting Utah Valley University who had clinched the Championship coming in. The Redhawks had to win and then get some help to clinch 2nd so they had something to play for when the match kicked off.

Seattle U also had a dominating record against the Wolverines in Seattle. Utah Valley had never won at the Redhawks Championship field at 0-10-1.

After the seniors were introduced and the match got underway it didn’t take long for the Redhawks to flex those home field muscles when Hallie Bergford scored in the 4th minute on an assist from Bella Bonnett. This was Bergford’s 2nd goal of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time leading off senior night.

Utah Valley answered just 3 minutes later and the ping-pong 1st half was on. The Redhawks re-took the lead in the 13th minute on an unassisted shot from Kait Raffensperger into the back of the net to go up 2-1. The Wolverines would answer 5 minutes later to even the match at 2-2.

Seattle U would dominate time of possession in the 1st half and outshot UVU 13-4. A 3rd shot would also find the back of the net in the 29th minute with Bella Bonnett picking up her 2nd assist as U’i Kaaihue popped in the go-ahead score and the Redhawks led 3-2 which would hold until halftime.

In the 2nd half unfortuntely the script was flipped and UVU came out with the intent to finally put a win on this field. in the 59th minute the Wolverines tied the match at 3-3. Utah Valley also dominated time of possession in the 2nd half and had 4 corner kicks to 0 for Seattle U in the 2nd half.

But the Redhawks defense raised up and denied the Wolverines time and again. In the final 15 minutes the Redhawks began to fight back and get their offense going with a late laser kick from Berford just missing going over the top of the crossbar.

In the end the Redhawks held on for the tie and denied UVU a win on Champions field. The tie did not deny them the #2 spot going into the conference tournament as the help they would have needed didn’t happen so they will be the 3 seed.

Standings and Up Next

Seattle U finished 3rd with a 4-1-2 conference mark behind UVU who were Champs with a 6-0-1 mark and the only blemish given to them by Seattle Uand Grand Canyon finshed 2nd at 5-1-1. The Redhawks overall record was 9-3-5.

Up next is the conference tournament with the champion heading to the NCAA tournament while the other 5 will have their season come to an end. One team will win 3 matches to earn the trip to the NCAA tournament.

The tournament is being held at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas and begins on November 3rd. The top 2 teams get a bye with 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 playing a loser out/winner to semi final matches. Seattle U will get 6th place Utah Tech at 7pm on the November 3rd the match prior has 4th place California Baptist facing #5 Tarleton State.

If Redhawks wins they will play Grand Canyon on November 6 and if they can advance to the Championship it would be on November 9.

Box Score link

The Seniors

It was Senior night and those that were honored prior to the game included team captain Kait Raffensperger from Redmond, Washington, Shaye Douglas from Corona, California, Jourdyn Curan from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Olivia Isakson from Sedro-Woolley, Washington, Nina Prusa from Cupertino, California, Savannah Singleton from Dacula, Georgia and Daniella Smathers from Prosper, Texas.

Washington State Players important to Redhawk success

Seattle U depends on players from Washington State High Schools to not only be part but lead their team. Kait Raffensperger is the captain and a Redmond HS grad. Their leading scorer on the year who was out with an injury Saturday, Caroline Penner is from Capital HS. Hallie Bergford a Grad student in her 5th year graduated from Tumwater HS. Olivia Isakson from Sedro-Woolley HS and Taylor Marks from Hazen HS, all 5 are big contributors.

Also on the squad from Washington high schools are Tayla Peterson from Lake Stevens HS, Rachael Remnet from Central Kitsap, Emma Sanchez from Camas HS, Zoe Hopkins from Lake Stevens HS, Lina Barnecut from Holy Names HS, Sophie Hanson from North Creek HS and Anica Carpenter from Seattle Academy.

Coaches stress importance of High School Soccer

We talked with Coach Chris Wells who is in charge of the Redhawk recruiting and he stressed how important the high school experience is. Wells says certainly club and specialized training helps but soccer is a game of relationships and trust and you have to come into a team atmosphere. Wells believes you really see that comraderie grow in traditional high school teams and it translates well to what happens in college.

Wells also says that players wanting to play at the next level should not only consider Seattle U but many state colleges have really good programs. So if you are not interested in going far away to play there are many opportunities to stay home and be on a great team. He says the Redhawks are going to be contenders year in and year out. We talked with him more and you can see the whole interview below. We also talked with Kait Raffensperger and Hallie Bergford.