There were no empty seats in Husky Soccer Stadium as fans packed shoulder to shoulder in preparation to watch Seattle University take on their foes from the north, the University of Washington (UW), in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship Tournament.
Redhawk fans showed out as waves of red filled the stands. According to Seattle U Athletics, over 500 tickets were distributed to students, faculty and student athletes alone.
Seattle U and UW last met in the National Tournament in 2017, where Seattle U came out victorious, defeating the Huskies 3-2 in overtime. Earlier this season, the teams faced off on UW’s home turf where Seattle U fell to the Huskies 1-2. Anticipation for this match was tremendous.
It was a back-and-forth battle for the entire match. Both the Huskies and the Redhawks played very aggressively, with Seattle U racking up 24 fouls throughout the match and UW receiving 19. Defense was the name of the game, with both teams making some big plays to deter their opponents’ attempts to put points on the board.
Despite both teams making attempts to score, with Seattle U taking 13 shots during the regulation 90 minutes and UW taking seven shots, the score was squared at 0-0 at the end of regulation, taking the match into overtime. Like a broken record, the score remained tied at 0-0 for both overtime periods, sending the match into penalty kicks.
In a disappointing end, the Huskies sealed the win after making three out of four attempts, while Seattle U was unable to get any attempts past the UW keeper, putting an end to yet another great season from the Redhawks.
“It’s difficult, with penalties anything can happen, it’s a 50/50 chance. I think it’s harder to lose that way than any other way,” Senior forward Jeremy Opong said.
Opong is among the six seniors and five grad students that Seattle U will be losing this year. Nate Daligcon is in his second year as head coach of the program.
“It’s tough to see these guys leave… you get to watch them grow, you get to watch them mature, you get to watch them improve and then they leave, so that’s tough,” Daligcon said.
In only two years as head coach for the Redhawks, Daligcon has already begun to make history. Through his leadership, the team has made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA National Tournament, taken home the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championship and had a combined record of 24-8-7. Daligcon was named WAC Coach of the Year in 2023. His leadership has proven successful in just two years at the helm, and it will be exciting to see how it continues in years to come.
Although the program is losing many seniors, this year’s squad was full of younger talent, consisting of 11 juniors, only one sophomore and eight freshmen. One big name from this year’s freshman class was Edgar Leon, a midfielder from East Wenatchee, Wash. Leon appeared in all 20 of the matches this season, racking up six goals and was named the WAC Freshman of the Year for the 2024 season.
Despite an unfortunate ending to the 2024 season for the Redhawks, the team is left with performances to be proud of this year. The Redhawks ended their season with a record of 12-4-4 and 7-1-1 in conference play. The team also secured the WAC Championship after defeating San Jose State 3-0 Nov. 16, clinching their spot in the NCAA National Championship Tournament.
The team’s performance leaves a lot to look forward to for next season. With exciting young talent and a coaching staff that was named the best in the Division I Far West Region in 2023 via United Soccer Coaches to back them up, next year should be just as, if not more successful, than ones in recent years.
Not only that, but there is a lot of excitement about Seattle U making the switch to the West Coast Conference beginning in the 2025-26 season. All these factors combined have Seattle U fans looking forward to what’s to come for the Redhawks. Bennet Kalberer, a first-year civil engineering major at Seattle U who attended the game, has high hopes.
“It’ll be good, I mean this was a great year so I think that’ll be a good indicator of what’s to come… I’m looking forward to it [next season] a lot,” Kalberer said.
The Seattle U Men’s Soccer program has already shown that they can compete at the highest level of Division I soccer. It will be exciting to see what the future holds for this Redhawks squad.
