UW women’s soccer wins Big Ten tournament days after Mia Hamant’s death
The Washington women’s soccer team poses with the banner after beating Michigan State to win the Big Ten tournament championship on Sunday at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Mo. (Joe Puetz / UW Athletics)
Playing with heavy hearts, the Washington women’s soccer team dug deep and captured the Big Ten tournament championship in dramatic fashion, beating Michigan State 4-1 in a penalty shootout on Sunday afternoon at Energizer Park in St. Louis.
The victory came after a 1-1 draw through regulation and extra time and earned the Huskies an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
On Thursday, the Huskies announced that Mia Hamant, a senior goalkeeper who had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, died after a monthslong ordeal with the disease. She was 21 years old.
“Obviously it’s been a hard, hard week, but it just shows how much this team loves each other, how much they care about each other and how much we love Mia,” Washington coach Nicole Van Dyke said in a postgame interview on the Big Ten Network.
“Mia has been with us the whole time. She’s a part of everything we do. She will always be. I can’t put it into words how appreciative we are, of just the support that everyone has given her, the support of her family, our team, this program, and I’m just so happy for these kids.”
Washington opened the scoring just a little over three minutes into the match. After her initial shot, Kalea Eichenberger caught her own rebound and found the top left of the net for a 1-0 lead.
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Michigan State responded in the 11th minute. Kennedy Bell drew a foul in the box and Kayla Briggs converted on the penalty kick to even the score at 1-1.
Neither team could break the stalemate from there and the match went to penalty kicks.
“We said at halftime we needed to buy into not having the ball, and when we got it, just do great things with it. And I think we weathered a lot of storms,” Van Dyke said. “Michigan State is unbelievable. … And I think to win it in PKs is just an unbelievable moment for this team.”
Washington’s Jadyn Holdenried, Laura Cetina, Alex Buck and Julia Husch put their penalty kicks through, while Michigan State only scored one thanks to a pair of saves by Tanner Ijams to give the Huskies the victory.
The 64-team NCAA tournament bracket will be announced at 1 p.m. Monday on NCAA.com.
Washington’s Samiah Shell was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after tallying four points on two goals, and Ijams and Buck were named to the All-Tournament team.