Cougars top Huskies, 3-2

The Washington women's soccer team continues its struggles on the Palouse, falling to Washington State 3-2 last Friday.

The Cougars (8-6-3 overall, 3-3-1 Pac-10) scored three goals within the opening 16 minutes and then held on for the victory over the No. 6 Huskies (12-4-1, 3-3-1). The UW is winless in its last four trips to Pullman, the last victory coming in 1996.

Cougar junior forward Alix Rustrum began the scoring just 1:36 into the contest with a shot into the upper right corner of the goal that sailed past Husky sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Rassmussen from deep on the left side of the field.

Less than six minutes later, senior Cailan McCutchan headed in a goal from a senior Megan Cecchini corner kick that snuck in underneath the crossbar in the seventh minute of the game.

The third and decisive goal came in the 15th minute from Cougar junior forward Haley Miller. Miller collected a pass from McCutchan and kicked it past Rassmussen for a goal from six yards out.

Senior forward Tina Frimpong put the Huskies on the board in the 23rd minute when she scored on a pass from freshman Dani Bridges. Frimpong took one dribble with the ball and nailed a 15-yard shot into the net for her 10th goal of the season, becoming the first Husky to register more than one double figure scoring season. She scored 13 goals last season.

Frimpong cut the lead to one in the 38th minute. Husky senior Kelley Schweighart served a corner kick into the box where the ball was punched out by Cougar junior goalkeeper Katie Hultin. Frimpong gathered the loose ball and punched it past Hultin for her second goal of the game.

The Huskies continued to pressure WSU and had several opportunities to tie the game. One shot caromed off the goal post, and senior Nikki Gamble had an open shot in the 84th minute that was stopped by Hultin.

"We created enough chances to get back in it, especially with 10 corner kicks," Gallimore said, "It would have been a great comeback, and we had plenty of time to do it, but we couldn't get the equalizer."

Hultin registered six saves for the Cougars who were outshot by the Huskies 12-10. Husky sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Rasmussen made four saves for the Huskies.

The Huskies return to home action this weekend for their final two games of the season when they host No. 14 Stanford and No. 13 California.