Men's Soccer: University of Washington vs. University of California

Shooting for one of the major social media outlets at the University of Washington, there is a variety of events to be covered. This time, I took on the task of photographing the #5 University of Washington men's soccer team against the #13 ranked California Golden Bears. It is exciting to be able to have the opportunity to photograph such highly ranked and talented teams.

I got to the stadium about 45 minutes before the game started. This way I could get all my gear together and get some shots of the field, fans, the student band, or anything else that grabbed my attention. The stadium was packed with fans and there was a beautiful sunset right before kickoff. 

A shot of Husky Baseball Stadium shortly before sundown.

Being a part of an outlet that gets credentials to all the major sporting events is remarkable. It means that I can be on field for all the action and have virtually unrestricted access. I positioned myself right at midfield for the opening ceremonies and spent the remained of the time at various locations on the field depending on what kind of shots I was looking for.

I knew that this was going to be a night game, so I was a little worried about how my camera would handle the high shutter speeds and high ISO range that I needed to capture the action. Overall, it did pretty well and was pleased with the results for how I pushed the camera to its limits.

UW goalie Spencer Richey (1) snags a bouncing ball before it heads into the goal for a Cal score.

James Moberg (15) goes up against Omid Jalali (3) for a header.

California's goalie Justin Taillole (1) snags a corner kick.

One thing I didn't realize was how physical the game gets. There were quite a few elbows thrown and players were on the ground a lot more than I might have thought previously. (Now... Not to say that sometimes the 'injuries' weren't over exaggerated a bit...)

Darwin Jones (11) battles for field position against Trevor Haberkorn (7).

James Moberg (15) takes a hard hit on a foul committed by Jose Carrera-Garcia (23).

Mason Robertson (6) draws a yellow card for a hard foul on the previous play.

Towards the end of the game, I wanted to try my skill at tracking the movement of the game while using a vertical camera orientation. I was able to grab some really nice solo shots of some of the UW players.

While the game was close, UW pulled out the victory in large part to goals scored by Darwin Jones (11) and Beau Blanchard (18). 

Darwin Jones (11) on his attempt for goal.

Justin Taillole (1) is unable to save the shot by UW's Darwin Jones (11).

Beau Blanchard (18) celebrates after coming off the bench and scoring UW's third goal of the night.

One aspects of sports that I love is the enthusiasm and excitement that players bring to the game. This really was shown off right after the teams scored. While I never grew up watching much soccer, photographing it is another thing and I can't wait to be able to photograph another game.