Women’s soccer remains undefeated at home with victory against USC

Oct 4, 2015, 11:32 PM

After a contentious shot in the first half that was counted as a save instead of a goal, the Washington women’s soccer team found the back of the net off a penalty kick in the second half and remain undefeated at home after a 1-0 win against USC on Sunday evening at Husky Soccer Stadium. Sophomore midfielder Shannon Simon tallied her sixth goal of the season in the 58th minute against the Trojans (7-4-1, 2-1-0 Pac-12). While the earlier shot off a free kick in the first half from sophomore midfielder Shaye Villanueva was not credited as a goal, her shot was tipped by the goalkeeper off the crossbar before landing what appeared to be inside the goal, the UW made sure to make the second half count. “Shaye’s goal should have counted, her’s should have been the winning goal,” Simon said. “It was just nice to get the reward we deserved.” The Huskies (9-2-1, 2-1-0 Pac-12) notched their fourth shutout of the year and are now 6-0-0 at home this season, which has been a big emphasis for the Huskies all season. “One of our main goals of the weekend was just to get a shutout,” junior defender Havana McElvaine said. “And a big theme for this year is protecting our house and I think that’s always kind of in the forefront in all of our minds.” In a first half with pressure from both sides but very few chances from either, the majority of play stayed around midfield. The UW was less dangerous than usual up front, though played strong in the backline and was able keep USC scoreless. The Huskies only had three shots on goal in the first half to the Trojans’ six. “One of the things that was tough for our team, was we are used to having the ball a lot more so they came off kind of mopey-faced, despite the goal that wasn’t called a goal,” head coach Lesle Gallimore said. “They just looked like they were a little defeated because we had to defend so much, but what we tried to encourage them was that kind of game where it’s a little bit of a chess match, we defended awesome but we just didn’t take care of the ball once we picked it off and won it.” Luckily, the Huskies made up for their low shot count in the second half with 10 shots. Overall, the UW forced USC goalkeeper redshirt junior Sammy Jo Prudhomme to make five saves on the night. “I think we definitely were finding our width and going at them and they’re definitely a strong, fast team,” Simon said. “So to be able to get that many shots and get a goal on them was a pretty good feeling.” This week, the Huskies take to the road to face off against Colorado on Friday and Utah on Sunday. With travel, altitude changes, and still being in the first weeks of classes, the Huskies have a lot to focus on. “For us, it’s going on the road and trying to be good on the road,” Gallimore said. “ … Both those teams are really tough to play at their place, so we just have to take a deep breath, get the second week of school under our belt, which is a short week because we travel, and just keep trying to do the things we do well and focus on us.” Reach Editor-in-Chief Kathryn Altena at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena

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