College Soccer: Seattle U Women Start Season with a Win

8/14/25

Seattle U vs Eastern Washington

(Seattle, WA) Championship Field hosted its first non exhibition match on the new pitch Thursday night. The Redhawks gained possession early with stellar play from Sydnee Smith, Kailee Wilson, and Kyla Schuster running down the wings and U’i Kaaihue and last seasons leading scorer Caroline Penner patrolling the middle of the field.

Seattle U put up 9 corners in the first half with Kaaihue taking a majority of them. One of the best attempts on goal for SU came on one of those corners. Kaaihue sent the ball in and Penner got a head on it but EW keeper Kamryn Willoughby made a fantastic push save over the crossbar.

Only a great play kept the Redhawks from scoring in the 1st half

The Eagles Charity Freeman had their best attempt to get on the board but the shot sailed over the crossbar. The Redhawks controlled possession with a whopping 33% in Eastern Washington’s defensive 3rd and 9 first half shots. But the Redhawks could not get the ball in the back of the net and went to the break in a scoreless tie.

Halftime Seattle U 0 Eastern Washington 0

The second half was very similar to the first with Seattle U playing with a majority of possession. However, the difference came at the 50:28 mark when Kaaihue took a free kick just outside of the 18 yard box. The chip pass found the head of Alana Lamb and past a diving Willoughby and into the net for the 1-0 Redhawk lead.

The Eagles upped their tempo after the goal with Bella Bunnage and Chloe Pattison stepping up but couldn’t get anything past the stout Seattle U defense. The Defensive line of Juju Barker, Imani Newby and freshman Jaelyn Byeman were solid throughout the match. The Redhawks took 17 shots with 6 on target to the Eagles 8 shots with one shot on frame.

Seattle U is now 1-0 with a couple of road matches on 8/21 at Montana and 8/24 vs Denver also being played at Montana.