Inside The Huskies

UW Soccer Dawgs Advance to Title Match

The Huskies beat Georgetown, face Clemson on Sunday in the NCAA final.

Dan Raley

The semifinals of the NCAA men's soccer championship on Friday night was not for the meek, but yet it was. Lucas Meek and his teammates.

Scoring twice in 3-minutes, 11-second span early in the second half, the University of Washington used goals by Charlie Ostrem and Meek to turn back the Georgetown Hoyas 2-1 and advance to Sunday's title game against the Clemson Tigers in Cary, North Carolina.

Lucas, a junior midfielder from Mercer Island, Washington, tapped the ball inside, got it back and launched a curving shot from the left corner that was just out of reach of Hoyas goaltender Giannis Nikopolidis for a 1-0 lead.

Increasing the tempo, the second-seeded Huskies (18-1-2) came back for another score a short time later. The rangy Ostrem, a 6-foot-2 junior defender from Richmond Beach, Washington, was standing maybe 20 yards in front of the Georgetown keeper when sent a high one into the back of the net.

Third-seeded Georgetown (18-3-1) could respond only with a lone goal with just over 10 minutes left to play and the Huskies tightened up their defense the rest of the way to earn their first championship game appearance in program history.

The UW and eighth-seeded Clemson (16-5-1) meet on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT in the final match that will be shown nationally televised on ESPNU.

Georgetown keeper Giannis Nikopolidis battles the UW's Ryan Sailor for the ball.
Georgetown keeper Giannis Nikopolidis and the UW's Ryan Sailor battle for the ball.  :: William Howard/USA TODAY Sports

Picking up the pace after a cautious opening half for both teams, the second-seeded Huskies (18-1-2) took it to Georgetown just minutes after intermission. 

Ostrem, a 5-foot-8 junior defender from Richmond Beach, Washington, was standing maybe 20 yards in front of the Georgetown keeper when sent a high one into the back of the net for what turned out to be the game-winner. Nikopolidis pounded one of the crossbars in frustration after getting beat again.

Georgetown (18-3-1) could respond only with a lone goal with just over 10 minutes left to play and the Huskies tightened up its defense again to earn its first championship game appearance in program history.

The match ended with a Hoyas penalty shot delivered deep to the front line, where a last-ditch kick sailed high over the goal and it was over. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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