September 2019 From the Athletic Director's Desk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
IN THIS ISSUE
Hermann Trophy candidate Blake Bodily leads men’s soccer into 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10 Questions With ... Kasey French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Keegan Cook led a Husky-laden volleyball team at the World University Games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 While the U.S. was winning it all, Husky Mireya Grey was making a name for herself at the FIFA Women's World Cup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Washington student-athletes set new records in the classroom in 2018-19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Shot ... Trey Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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GOHUSKIES VOLUME 13 / ISSUE 2 / SEPTEMBER 2019
For Information on Advertising, Please Call Sonny Sixkiller at (206) 556-4128. GoHuskies Magazine is published seven times a year by Huskies Sports Properties, in conjunction with the University of Washington Athletic Department.
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EDITOR Brian Beaky
FROM THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR’S DESK
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all is always such a special season for us at the University of Washington. There is a renewed energy in our department and on campus with the anticipation of another year of competition and the return of our student body. The eagerness to get to football season in Seattle is always high, but what makes the UW so unique is the quality and depth of all 22 of our programs. The fall is a chance for us to showcase some of the great talents we have on Montlake and set the tone for the year. Volleyball returns a number of contributors from a team that advanced to the Sweet 16, while our cross country programs have high expectations after strong campaigns last fall under Andy & Maurica Powell. Men’s soccer looks to return to the postseason for the seventh time in the last nine seasons, while women’s soccer hopes to send head coach Lesle Gallimore out on a high note after a tremendous coaching career at the UW. Also, we launched our 10-year apparel partnership with adidas in July and we are excited to rollout all of our new uniforms beginning this fall! Whether on the pitch, in Alaska Airlines Arena or on the running trails of Seattle, our fans, donors and alumni are the life-blood of our programs and department. Without the continued
Jennifer Cohen
dedication of your time and energy, the University of Washington wouldn’t be what it is today. The tradition that has been built on Montlake is one that can’t be rivaled and this would not be possible without your generous support. We hope to see you at one of the many fall competition events and we need YOU to come alongside us to make this year the best one yet! GO DAWGS!
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WORTH THE
WAIT
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BY BRIAN BEAKY EDITOR • GOHUSKIES MAGAZINE
here are few sights more intimidating to Pac-12 defenders than that of Huskies’ midfielder Blake Bodily bearing down at them with the ball at his feet, his eyes scanning for open space to exploit. Make one wrong move — just so much as a flinch in the wrong direction — and the next thing you’ll see will be the back of Bodily’s jersey as he blows past you towards the goal. Look closely at Bodily in these moments, and you might catch a little glimmer in his eye — because he knows exactly how you're feeling. “Oh, yeah,” says the Husky junior, when asked about those specific moments. “When I get in that moment, I’m always super-excited. It’s like, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for the whole game.‘” Bodily has been the straw that stirs the drink for the Huskies’ offense over the last two seasons, scoring seven goals and tallying 16 assists — contributing to one out of every three goals scored by the Huskies in that time. What’s more, that offensive success has come despite the occasional injury, including one that caused Bodily to miss the first three games of the 2018 season. Since the end of last season — a hard-fought scoreless draw which ultimately saw Lipscomb advance on penalty kicks. — Bodily has been
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focused squarely on taking care of his physical health, and ensuring that he will be in peak condition entering this fall. He says that, for the first time in more than a year, he finally feels 100 percent. “Yeah, I’m definitely ready to go,” he says. “It feels good. That’s been the biggest challenge for me, just staying healthy. The season in college soccer is very condensed; you have to play a lot of games in a short amount of time. You really have to take care of yourself to make sure that you’re at your best.” When he is, Bodily is tough to stop. College Soccer News reporter Dela Agbotse — himself a former collegiate star at St. John’s University — called Bodily a “diamond in the Northwest,” writing of his tactical knowledge, pace, explosiveness and field awareness before concluding, “With a combination of tactical and technical attributes, the Husky forward is well on his way to becoming one of the best college players. An MLS or European contract is not out of the question.” Were a Major League Soccer squad to approach Bodily about a contract,
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Since Delaying His UW Enrollment To Play For The Portland Timbers’ USL Affiliate, Junior
BLAKE BODILY Has Been Tearing Up The Pac-12 Conference
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it wouldn’t be the first time that he’s uprooted his life to pursue his chosen career. In 2014, Bodily — then a 15-year-old high school sophomore in Boise, Idaho — was approached by representatives of the Portland Timbers Academy, and offered the chance to train with the prestigious club. The move would mean exposure to Major League Soccer-affiliated coaches and top collegiate programs, and an opportunity to line up next to and against some of the top young soccer players in the nation. It would also, however, mean leaving behind everything he knew in Boise and starting a new life, with no friends or relationships to fall back on, in a new state. It was Blake's decision to make, but he knew the impact on not only himself, but his entire family, would be significant. “That was really crazy,” Bodily says. “Ultimately, my mom moved with me while my dad stayed behind in Boise, so, they sacrificed a lot for me to be able to do that. I was only able to go home a couple of times a year, maybe at Christmas or a little bit over the summer.” “But, I became really close with my teammates, because I didn’t really have anybody else, except my mom,” he continues. “I think it was harder for her, because she left all of her friends, too, and my dad. I think she was probably more lonely than I was. So, it was a big decision, but it was one that I definitely would do again. It changed my life in a positive way.” It was at the Timbers Academy where Bodily caught the eye of Huskies’ head coach Jamie Clark, who was enamored of Bodily’s playmaking abilities and envisioned the young attacker playing a significant role in the Huskies’ offense. “Blake has the ability to unlock defenses by running at players or with his passing,” Clark said on the day Bodily signed his letter of intent, in February of 2016. “His feel for the game is brilliant and should allow him to make a big impact early in his career at UW.” That impact, though, would have to wait. Following the 2016 academy season, Timbers coaches approached Bodily once again, with another devil’s bargain. This time, they asked Bodily if he would be willing to delay enrollment at UW for another season, and instead play and train with the Timbers’ United Soccer League (USL) affiliate, T2. Again, Bodily had to make a difficult choice between two equally exciting opportunities — to begin his college soccer career at Washington, or to further develop his game against professionals at T2. The choice was made easier by a call to Clark.
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“He was a little surprised, but he was really supportive,” Bodily recalls. “He told me that he’d be on board with whatever I thought was best for me.” Bodily opted to take a “gap year” and stay with T2 for the 2016 season. He says that the 16 games he played in that year — including 11 starts, four goals and two assists — plus the experience of living on his own for the first time (his mother moved back to Boise) played a significant role in his successful transition to college soccer the following year. “It was a great opportunity to develop my game, playing against grown men,” he says. “It really helped me grow as a person. It was a big adjustment, not only the soccer, but also living on my own and having to learn to cook for myself and do my own things. But, it definitely helped me when I got to college, because I felt like I had already done all of this before. I was ready for it.” Was he ever. Bodily made sure that his freshman season was worth the wait, scoring three goals and tallying eight assists, the latter total secondbest of all Pac-12 players. At the end of the 2017 season, Bodily was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 First Team, and was a secondteam selection to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division-I All-Far West Region team. Then, in 2018, Bodily doubled-down on First-Team All-Pac-12 honors, scoring two goals and four assists in an injury-shortened season, while leading the Huskies back to the NCAA Tournament for the secondconsecutive year. Entering 2019, Bodily says that the Huskies’ squad is as united as they have ever been. “This is the closest team that I have ever been on,” he says, “so that’s really cool. They are the most fit, and are really ready to go. I think our team this year is going to be really good.” Asked who has impressed him so far in the offseason, Bodily specifically calls out two sophomores — defender Ethan Bartlow and midfielder Dylan Teves — and one senior, midfielder Jaret Townsend. Teves finished second on the team last year with five goals, while Bartlow was key to a Husky defense that finished the season on a 486-minute shutout streak that spanned more than five games, the team's longest such streak since 1996, and just two games shy of the program's all-time record. “I’m excited to see how Ethan will continue to grow as a player, and Dylan,
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“This is the closest team that I have ever been on,” Bodily says, “so that’s really cool”
I think, is going to have another great year — he came in and scored a lot of goals for us last year,” Bodily says. “I’m also looking at Jaret Townsend. He didn’t play as much last year, but I think he’s going to have a great year. He plays on the wing, and I think his goals and assists are going to go up, big-time.” Bodily says that it will imperative for the team to remain focused throughout the season this year if they are to achieve their goal of a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Washington started off the season with shutouts in five of its first seven games, before dropping four-straight games in mid-season. The Huskies rebounded to win nine of their last 11 going into the NCAA Tournament — including another five shutouts — but those four losses likely cost the Huskies a chance at one of the tournament’s top 16 seeds, and the various associated benefits (including a first-round bye and a guarantee of no road games before the Sweet 16). “Last year, we started off hot and I think we became overconfident, thinking that every game was going to be easy,” he says. “In college, every game is tough and anyone can beat anyone. This year, we have to maintain our focus and understand that nothing is going to come easy. If we want to achieve our PAGE 8
goals, we’re going to have to be willing to work for it in every game.” While Bodily may try to deflect attention onto team goals and those teammates that he thinks will excel in 2019, he learned this summer at least someone out there definitely has their eyes on him. In August, Bodily was practicing with the Timbers Under-23 team (for whom the Husky made two appearances this summer) when he received a notification on his phone indicating that the United Soccer Coaches and Missouri Athletic Club had placed Bodily on the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s Heisman. Among Husky players, only Cristian Roldan — current Seattle Sounders star and a member of the U.S. Men's National Team — has ever shared the honor of finding himself on the preseason list. “I was shocked,” Bodily says. “I had no idea that there was a watch list. It was cool to see — my parents were definitely excited, and my friends were all really supportive.” “But,” he continues, “It doesn’t really change my preparation all that much. It’s cool to be on the preseason list, but if anything, it just makes me want to work that much harder to make sure that my name is on the last list, too.” GoHUSKIES
10 QUESTIONS WITH... MEN’S SOCCER’S KASEY FRENCH
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rench is entering his redshirt junior season with the Huskies and is a key part of the Washington backline. French played in 13 matches last year while battling injury, helping the team allow just 20 goals on the season and tallying three assists. French has twice earned Pac-12 First Team All-Academic honors and was twice named to the CoSIDA Academic AllDistrict VIII First Team.
Why did you choose Washington? “I grew up in Washington and have always loved the state, so I wanted to stay close to home. UW offered a top-class education along with a quality soccer program, so it was an easy decision.” When did you start playing soccer? “When I was about six years old.” What is your earliest or favorite soccer memory? “My earliest memory is playing keeper at my older brother’s soccer trainings when I was about five or six.” Who are your four favorite soccer players? “Messi, Hazard, De Bruyne, Iniesta.” What is your favorite professional soccer team? How did you become a supporter? “Barcelona. I enjoyed watching them play as kid, so I have just grown up being a fan of the way they play football.” What is the best advice you have ever received? “You are the average of the people you surround yourself with.” What is your favorite quote? “‘If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough,’ by Albert Einstein.” What sport would you play if you didn't play soccer? “Basketball.” What is your favorite place to go around Seattle? “Gas Works Park. It has a beautiful view of the water and Seattle.” What is one random fact that people wouldn't know about you? “I have a Wikipedia page.”
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UNITED
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Husky seniors, coaches bonded at this summer’s World University Games in Italy BY MASON KELLEY
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eegan Cook wasn’t supposed to coach Team USA at the World University Games in Italy this summer. He was originally scheduled to work with another team. But, sometimes things have a way of working out the way they’re supposed to. With two of Washington’s seniors – Kara Bajema and Avie Niece – playing their way onto the National Team, Cook was provided with a unique opportunity to mentor his two standouts on an international stage. But, Cook had already made other commitments, until a scheduling conflict led to a change in plans, freeing him up to accept the opportunity to coach his players during a competition that saw the American squad finish ninth. “It came together by happenstance that I got to coach them,” Cook says. It was the coach’s second opportunity to work with his players in an international tournament. A few years ago, he was able to coach a team that featured former Washington standouts Courtney Schwan and Tia Scambray on a trip to China. “They are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, whether you’re coaching or playing,” Cook says. “I just love seeing them represent their country. I was hoping to have another chance to do it again.” For Bajema and Niece, this was their second collegiate volleyball trip abroad. Earlier in their careers, they were able to go on a foreign tour with their teammates, visiting Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. That foreign tour, though, was as much about the travel experience as it was the exhibition matches they played on the trip. “This is more of a serious competition,” Cook says.
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The trip provided an opportunity for Bajema and Niece to compete at a level that doesn’t typically present itself most summers. “There’s no other way for them to replicate that kind of play,” Cook says. “If you’re with your teammates playing in open gym, it’s not going to be the same as Japan and Italy in uniform. Nothing can replicate that kind of experience.” The Huskies and their coach traveled abroad and had to mesh with new teammates, while navigating a difficult pool that included Italy and Japan, the eventual second- and third-place finishers. “We had never played together before getting to Italy,” Bajema says. “It’s just interesting to play these other teams. Looking at our size and looking at Japan’s size, we were like, ‘OK, USA’s got this, just in terms of height and strength.’ But, Japan just knows how to use the size they have. They’re really, really scrappy. It was actually pretty cool to see.” After pool play, the best finish Team USA could secure was ninth place, and that’s exactly where they ended up, finishing the competition strong. “It was just super-cool to play with different girls from different universities, just hear their stories and how their programs work,” Bajema says. “It’s important for your growth to learn how to adapt to different styles of play, different people around you.” The competition provided memories Niece, Bajema and Cook will never forget. “Playing in Italy was an irreplaceable experience,” Niece says. “Playing internationally with girls from other colleges was an opportunity I cherished. I loved learning about other programs and other girls’ experiences.” The team was in Italy to compete, but they did get the opportunity for a little bit of local flavor, visiting Pompeii and taking a boat trip around the Amalfi Coast.
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The World University Games also provided a chance for Cook and his players to get a head start on the season. “It only helps our relationship with Keegan, just seeing what we can do with communication, with the roles we need to play this season,” Bajema says. “It’s really important that our communication with Keegan is on the same page, so we can relate to the team and continue meshing as a team. “This was a good opportunity to just spend time with Keegan and learn from each other.” Now, back in Seattle, the season has arrived. In 2018, the Huskies were young with just one senior, Destiny Julye. So, when asked about his program one year later, Keegan jokes, “we’re older.” Last season, Washington’s juniors – Bajema, Niece, Shayne McPherson and Cailin Onosko – blossomed into leaders while Washington’s young players learned this system. With so much of the team returning, the program’s spring workouts were more intense than they’ve been in the past.
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“We had one of the most intense spring seasons we’ve had, because you usually don’t have 13 athletes in your spring gym, you have seven or eight,” Cook says. “In the month of May, we were playing some high-level volleyball.” The Huskies open the season with trips to Hawaii, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin, so meshing quickly in the fall, like they did in the spring, will be important. “I’ve laid a gauntlet in front of them,” Cook says. “We’re hitting the road six weeks in a row and we’re playing some of the biggest venues in the country. I didn’t put anything in front of them I didn’t think they could handle.” Like Cook, Bajema and Niece understand what is in front of them and they are champing at the bit to get started. “We have the talent to take on every team in the country,” Niece says. “We just need to
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extract it from within our team to execute this season. Great leadership and coaching will help us achieve our overarching goal of a Final Four and a championship. We have the talent this year and I’m excited to see where this year leads us.” Bajema adds, “It’s just about how we use the growth we had in the spring and, hopefully, a year of experience with the younger girls will also help with their confidence coming into this year. I know the seniors are so ready to go and we feel like we have something special this year. There’s potential for us to go pretty far, but we have to remember to take this game-by-game.” If Washington can replicate the kind of growth in 2019 it experienced last season, then the program is capable of a special year. That’s the goal. The Huskies have been building toward this moment since the 2018 season ended in the NCAA Championships Round of 16. It started in the spring. It continued in open gyms and with Cook, Bajema and Niece traveling to Italy to play for Team USA. Everything the players and coach have done led them to this moment. It’s time to take the next step and, as Cook says, “make some magic happen.” “It feels like a team that has high aspirations,” Cook says. “Last year, there was a lot of learning. Our juniors were stepping into big roles. We had a lot of freshmen. Now, it just has that feeling of, let’s making something happen. Let’s make a run.”
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Globe tro From Finals Week, to the World Cup, to a study-abroad program in Peru, to the Pan-Am Games, junior
MIREYA GREY
had herself a busy summer
T
BY MARK MOSCHETTI FOR GOHUSKIES MAGAZINE
he last full week of school. Some assignments still to complete. Final exams in just a few days. Even a study-abroad trip coming up. Mireya Grey had a lot on her mind the first week of June. One day in the middle of that week, the 20-year-old University of Washington soccer player heard her phone ring. The caller wanted to know if she was healthy and game-fit. Grey replied in the affirmative. Her phone immediately rang again. This time, it was someone with an invitation … … to play for Jamaica in the Women’s World Cup. “It was a phone call from one of the coaches, and he said, ‘Can you come to France?’” Grey says, still beaming with a huge smile as she relived that moment. “I was going to grab lunch and go to my next class – I had class in 10 minutes. But, I was like, ‘Yes – absolutely!’ “I was stuttering, thinking about the finals I had to take the next week and preparing myself mentally for the World Cup.” That was June 5. By that weekend, Grey, just finishing her sophomore year, had managed to complete those assignments, handled most of her finals (“I ended up taking one in France – and I got a good grade,” she says), and was bound for Grenoble, where Jamaica would play its first-ever World Cup game against powerhouse Brazil.
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“I finally got onto the field and I was like, ‘OK, snap out of it – you’re going to wind up getting the ball and not know what’s going on.”
Having arrived the night before the June 9 contest, Grey watched from the sidelines as Jamaica fell to the Brazilians, 3-0. But, five days later in Reims, she started at forward and played 66 minutes of a 5-0 loss to Italy. “I really felt like I wasn’t in my body,” she says of marching in with the other starters. “I finally got onto the field and I was like, ‘OK, snap out of it – you’re going to wind up getting the ball and not know what’s going on.” In fact, Grey found the ball at her feet in the first few moments of the game. “It was a through-ball and I got around a player and crossed it,” she says. “Then I was into it. I was pretty thankful for that play.” Back in Grenoble four days later, Grey started and played 72 minutes in a 4-1 loss to Australia. “I thought we didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” Grey says. “We had the potential to do more. Just because we were a young team in our first World Cup, we had a lot to learn.” Grey’s unexpected opportunity came when a Jamaican player suffered a pre-tournament knee injury. Grey had attended the team’s training camp in May and felt she played well, but ultimately was not one of the final selections. “They told me they weren’t going to take me to the World Cup, but if anything happened, they would let me know,” Grey says.
Globe trotter
Lima
NEXT STOP:
SOUTH AMERICA
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hile most of her teammates headed home, Grey boarded a plane from Paris to Lima, Peru. Before that last-minute invite to the World Cup, she had been accepted for a monthlong study-abroad program. “I was studying art and blackness in the indigenous people in Peru’s past and present,” Grey explains. “African culture and influence is something I learned to love, and learned from my grandpa, especially. That program was made for me. And, I wanted to go to South America to practice my Spanish and get more fluent.”
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Globe trotter Those plans already had been finalized when she got an e-mail inviting her to play for Jamaica in the Pan-American Games, a quadrennial event that tales place the summer prior to the next Olympics. These Pan-Ams just happened to be in Lima. “I managed to figure out a way to go straight from France to Peru without having to go back to Seattle,” Grey says. This Jamaica team was largely different – and younger – than the World Cup team. Grey started and played all 90 minutes of all four games. And, while the results were similar to what happened in France – the tournament also had a placement game, pitting Jamaica against home-standing Peru for seventh and eighth. It was in that contest when Grey found the back of the net – and the Jamaicans finally found the win column, beating the hosts, 1-0, on her goal in the 26th minute, her first in international play. Thought not the prettiest goal ever scored, it counted just the same. Grey and the Peruvian goalkeeper had collided on a high cross into the box, and Grey crashed to the field. “The ball lands at my teammate’s feet, she shoots it, and it gets saved,” Grey said. “I’m still on the ground. The ball rolls right to my feet, I get up and shoot it from three yards away. It was hilarious.”
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Seattle BACK TO PURPLE
AND GOLD
Home again in Seattle after two months of travel, Grey and her UW teammates are preparing the start of the 2019 season. The Huskies are coming off an 8-10-1 campaign in which goals weren’t easy to come by. However, three of the team's four top scorers are back. Junior midfielder Olivia Van Der Jagt led the team with six goals, including three game-winners. Defender Kaylene Pang, now a junior, and forward Summer Yates, a sophomore, tallied three goals apiece. (Grey played all 19 games with eight starts and one goal.) Washington returns three defenders who started all 19 games, and senior goalkeeper Siena Ruelas, who also started all 19. The Huskies are ready to test themselves this year, putting together a tough non-conference schedule that includes 2018 national runner-up North Carolina on August 29 at the Husky Invitational. “We’ve had a couple years of youth and inexperience, and I think now they’re maturing into a group that wants something out of their work and struggle and strife,” says head coach Lesle Gallimore, who is entering her 26th and final season at the helm, having announced last January that she will be stepping down. “My gut tells me this group is hungry to get back to the (NCAA) tournament, hungry to make a run, and hungry to make a name for themselves.” And, for Grey, hungry for whatever experience comes next.
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WE’RE GOOD. WE’RE SMART.
IN THE GAME. IN THE CLASSROOM.
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Husky student-athletes excel in annual academic metrics
f there’s one thing Husky fans and alumni are prouder of than how much our teams win, it's how well our teams do in the classroom. Plenty of colleges and Universities have good teams, after all — but good and smart? That's when you're really in the upper crust. Well, stick your pinky in the air and tip back that glass of champagne, because you’re going to be hard-pressed to find many programs with the brains and talent to match what Washington put up this past year. The athletic accomplishments need little reminder — two national titles (men’s and women’s crew), five Pac-12 titles (both crews, football, men's basketball and softball), plus long-awaited returns to the Rose Bowl and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and a slew of NCAA Championship appearances and All-America honors. PAGE 26
BY BRIAN BEAKY EDITOR • GOHUSKIES MAGAZINE It’s in the classroom, though, where Washington student athletes truly excelled. Husky studentathletes topped 980 in the NCAA’s annual Academic Progress Report (APR) for the seventh-consecutive year, with an average score across all teams of 987 (1,000 is a perfect score). The numbers are even better when looking at each team individually. Washington's football team was one of the top performers, with a 991 APR that was tops in the Pac-12 for the secondstraight year, and fourth-highest in the nation among Power Five programs. Ahead of Washington were Northwestern, Clemson and Duke, only one of which can match the Huskies’ performance in both the academic and athletic arenas. In addition, five different UW teams earned perfect scores in the last year — including the Pac12 champion softball team, men's cross country
(sixth at NCAAs in 2018), women’s tennis, women’s soccer and women's track. Men’s basketball also excelled, matching their run the Pac-12 title and NCAA Tournament with a 980 APR that was second in the conference only to Stanford, while baseball's 990 tied USC for the Pac-12’s best. In all, 18 of 22 UW sport programs ended the spring quarter with grade-point averages over 3.0 (including nine above 3.30), while the program’s overall GPA of 3.17 was among its best ever. One hundred forty-two UW student-athletes made the Dean’s List, while 15 earned a perfect 4.0 GPA. “Our continued excellence in the classroom is a testament to the commitment of our student-athletes and coaches have to academic excellence at the University of Washington,” said Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen. “It’s truly inspiring to see our programs sustain these high academic marks.” GoHUSKIES
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Photographs by RED BOX PICTURES
IMMOVABLE OBJECT
Preseason All-Pac 12 First Team Selection Trey Adams returns to anchor a veteran offensive line in 2019. To purchase Husky Athletics photography, visit www.HUSKIESPHOTOSTORE.com
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