12/15/2025
CARY, NC
The Washington Huskies Men’s Soccer Team for the first time in program history are College Cup National Champions. The Huskies defeated the NC State Wolfpack in overtime thanks to Harrison Bertos scoring the goal of a lifetime.
Washington found scoring from Zach Ramsey, Joe Dale, including the winner from Bertos. NC State had Donavan Phillip and Taig Healy score their goals. Healy’s goal came with three minutes left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
The win caps a tournament run that saw the unranked Huskies defeat five nationally ranked teams on their way to winning the championship.
Monday night’s National Championship took place in Cary, North Carolina, a ten minute drive from NC State’s campus. The Wolfpack came into the virtual home game as the 15th ranked team in the nation, and was a part of bringing the largest crowd for a national championship at 10,500 fans.
Washington scored first when Zach Ramsey broke the ice for UW in the 44th minute, by chipping in a loose rebound into a yawning net.
The Huskies led at halftime 1-0.
In the second half, UW padded their lead when Joe Dale tipped in a centering pass from Richie Aman. The goal in the 62nd minute gave UW a 2-0 lead with their eye on a national championship.
Four minutes later, NC State countered when Donavan Phillip volleyed home a headed pass from Nikola Markovic to cut the Huskies lead to one.
Time continued to wind down, with Washington maintaining a 2-1 lead into the closing minutes. NC State found their equalizer when Taig Healy from the slot shot one by Huskies keeper Jadon Bowton in the 87th minute. Overtime was needed to decide a national champion.
In overtime, Washington established offensively in the NC State penalty area. Four quick passes later, Harrison Bertos put the finishing touch to give the Huskies the national championship.
Bertos took off his jersey and began celebrating, with the trophy being handed to the celebrating Huskies. The referees decided to call for the VAR to see if the play was offside.
After VAR confirmed the goal, the Huskies cemented their journey in the most unlikeliest of treks.
The Huskies journey to the title began with adversity in round 1 against Oregon State. The Huskies tied the match in the 84th minute before Richie Aman won the match for Washington in the 103rd minute. Washington went on to defeat #5 SMU 1-0 in the second round. Against #12 Stanford it took a Charlie Kosakoff 88th minute goal to lift the Huskies to the quarterfinals. UW edged #4 in the quarterfinals 3-1 and then defeated #16 Furman by an equivalent 3-1 count in the semifinals.
Zach Ramsey won Offensive Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament while Jadon Bowton won Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
The moment is even sweeter for Bowton since he was apart of Washington’s team that lost in the National Championship in 2021, in the school’s only prior appearance to the Title game.
Jamie Clark in his 14th year coaching the Huskies wins his and the program’s first National Championship.
For the Washington Huskies, the dream of a championship is finally a reality, while doing it the hard way.
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