Thursday, January 19, 2023
by Western Washington Athletic Communications

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University 2022 women's soccer national championship season has been selected as one of five nominees for the Seattle Sports Star of the Year Award for Women's Sports.
 
The Seattle Sports Commission (SSC) officially released the nominees for the 88th Annual Sports Star of the Year Awards Show presented by Microsoft, and invite the public to help select the winners by voting at seattlesports.org from January 17-23.
 
Nominees for the three awards categories are athletes from across the state who excelled in the 2022 season and include Olympians, history-making achievements and standouts in what was an exciting season of sports. The winners will be announced live onstage during the 88th Annual Sports Star of the Year Awards Show on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at The Westin Seattle.
 
The Vikings are up for the award after winning the 2022 NCAA Division II championship, delighting fans with a thrilling finale close to home in Seattle and beating West Chester 2-1 for its second national title in six years. Freshman forward Claire Potter assisted on the first goal and made the go-ahead shot in the 83rd minute to cap the 19-2-4 historic season.
 
WWU Soccer is up against Pac-12 Softball Player of the Year Baylee Klinger of the University of Washington, four-time WNBA All-Star Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm, OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle and world champion sprint canoeist Nevin Harrison.
 
Awards will also be announced through voting for the Men's Sports Star of the Year and Sports Story of the Year. Seattle Mariners legend and Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. will be presented the Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award, along with other significant awards announced at the show.

After starting the season with a 1-1-2 record through the first four, the Vikings recorded a 13-game unbeaten streak (10-0-3) to move into the top-10 nationally. WWU claimed its ninth Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title with an 11-1-2 record, raised the trophy at the GNAC Championships Tournament for the sixth time and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for a 10th consecutive trip to the postseason.

As the No. 2 seed in the West Region, the Vikings earned the right to host game at Harrington Field in Bellingham, defeating No. 18 nationally-ranked Point Loma 1-0 in the second round. WWU then won its fifth West Regional title with a 1-0 win over Concordia and improved to 5-0 all-time in national quarterfinal games with a 3-1 victory over Colorado School of Mines to punch its ticket to the championship site in Seattle.
 
The Vikings defeated No. 3 Columbus State 2-0 in the national semifinal on a pair of goals by sophomore forward Sophie Bearden Croft and took down No. 1 and previously unbeaten West Chester 2-1. Potter scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute and senior midfielder and National Player of the Year Tera Ziemer scored the first goal in the 15th minute.
 
WWU had four players earn NCAA Championships All-Tournament honors, led by most outstanding player junior forward Estera Levinte. Ziemer, junior defender Katie Watt and junior goalkeeper Claire Henninger were also selected to the all-tournament team. During the regular season, WWU led the GNAC with eight players on the all-conference team, highlighted by first-teamers Levinte, Ziemer, freshman midfielder Morgan Manalili and senior midfielder/defender Karina Provo. Head coach Travis Connell was selected as the GNAC Coach of the Year and the WWU coaching staff was selected by the United Soccer Coaches as the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Staff of the Year.
 
The 2022 championship season continued an elite 11-season stretch with the Vikings going 197-25-18 (.858) dating back to the 2012 season. WWU has played in each of the last seven West Regional championship games and won two of the last six national titles.