Pair of local standouts help lead WWU girls soccer to national title
Published 8:15 pm Thursday, December 8, 2016
Though nearly a week has passed, the thrill of a national championship for Erin Russell and her Western Washington University women’s soccer teammates remains undiminished.
Russell, a 2013 graduate of Mountlake Terrace High School, helped the Vikings to a 3-2 victory over Grand Valley State (Mich.) on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division II national title game. For Russell, a senior defender, it was the perfect ending to her four-year WWU career.
“I’ve been playing since I was 4,” said the 21-year-old Russell, “so after all those years of hard work, to end up (with a national championship) is the best feeling ever. There really are no words (to describe it). … It’s like the best feeling you could ever imagine, times 100.
“I’m actually wearing my hat right now,” Russell said on Thursday, referring to the national championship cap given to players on the winning team in the title game.
Saturday’s outcome helps avenge WWU’s 3-2 loss to Grand Valley State last season in a Final Four semifinal.
A year ago, Russell said, “they were the team to beat, so we were super-nervous (before the game). But this year there was a calmness to our team. There was no doubt in our minds that we could do it. Even myself, I had butterflies, but I was ready to play. We were all ready to play because we knew we could win.”
Saturday’s victory closed an undefeated season for the Vikings, who won every game except a season-opening tie with Sonoma State back on Sept. 1. Since then Western Washington ran off 24 consecutive wins, with the string including two games at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament, three more at the NCAA West Regionals, and two at the Final Four tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
The title, which came in WWU’s third Final Four appearance in four years, was “a massive accomplishment,” said Vikings coach Travis Connell. “It’s something we’ve been working at for many, many years here … and it culminated in this championship that the players won in dramatic fashion on the field.
“There aren’t too many things in life that can take your breath away like (winning a national title), and I’m super excited that the kids got to experience that,” he said.
Russell was one of two Snohomish County players in the Western Washington starting lineup. The other was freshman forward Liv Larson, a 2016 graduate of Arlington High School, who played well enough to be one of five Vikings named to the Final Four’s All-Tournament team.
“Liv just loves playing soccer,” Connell said, “and you can see it in the way she goes about it. Every game she pours everything she has out on the field, and it looks like she’s enjoying herself while she’s doing it. She’s been fantastic.”
As for Russell, he added, “she’s such a special player. I just watched a replay of the match, and I don’t think (the announcers) talked about any player more than they talked about Erin Russell in that match. She probably played one of her best games in her last game, and that’s exactly how you’d want to write it.”
