College soccer: Henninger helps WWU’s Vikings score soccer title

By Michael Dashiell • December 14, 2022 1:30 am
Photo by Michael Potash/WWU / Sequim’s Claire Henninger (front row, left) and the Western Washington University women’s soccer team celebrates an NCAA Division II title in Seattle on Dec. 3.
Photo by Michael Potash/WWU / Sequim’s Claire Henninger (front row, left) and the Western Washington University women’s soccer team celebrates an NCAA Division II title in Seattle on Dec. 3.

Claire Henninger said she was incredibly raw technically and more of an athlete than a refined soccer player while playing for Sequim High.

“I played soccer because I loved it; it was fun,” said Henninger, now the starting goalkeeper for Western Washington University’s women’s team.

“It allowed me to be fearless and enjoy it.”

The same might be said now for Henninger and her Viking teammates, after sweeping through the postseason to win the NCAA Division II championship earlier this month.

Western (19-2-4) capped a spectacular season by knocking off No. 1-ranked (and previously undefeated) West Chester (Pa.) 2-1 in the title game at Interbay Stadium in Seattle on Dec. 3.

Photo courtesy of WWU Athletics / Former Sequim soccer standout Claire Henninger is a graduate student at Western Washington University and helped the WWU women’s soccer team earn its second NCAA Division II title with a 2-1 win over West Chester (Pa.) on Dec. 3.

Photo courtesy of WWU Athletics / Former Sequim soccer standout Claire Henninger is a graduate student at Western Washington University and helped the WWU women’s soccer team earn its second NCAA Division II title with a 2-1 win over West Chester (Pa.) on Dec. 3.

“In August we set goals that seemed lofty at the time,” Henninger said last week, including conference, regional and national titles.

“As we hit all those goals, that was really exciting,” she said.

Roots

Henninger was homeschooled through grade 10, then graduated from Peninsula College with a dual high school diploma and associate of arts degree through the Running Start program. A starter in goal for Sequim High’s girls soccer program for four years, she earned back-to-back all-Olympic League first team honors in her junior and senior seasons.

In all, she tallied 28 shutouts in her prep career.

In her final prep season (2016), the Wolves racked up a then school record 11 wins, and Henninger helped the team posted 10 shutouts in 16 games, earning an All-Peninsula MVP nod from the Peninsula Daily News.

Henninger backed up All-American Natalie Dierickx for three seasons, maintaining a 0.69 goals against average over 13 career games, before taking the starting role this season, when she recorded 52 saves, earned 11 shutouts and posted a 0.54 goals-allowed-per-game average.

Postseason road

Western’s road to the title wasn’t an easy one, with wins over Point Loma (1-0, Nov. 12) and Colorado School of Mines (3-1, Nov. 19) in the regionals leading to the semifinals. There, taking on Columbus State — the No. 1 scoring team in the nation — Henninger recorded one save and gave up one goal late in a 2-1 victory, setting up the championship match-up with West Chester (23-1-1).

Having played at Interbay Stadium earlier in the season (against Seattle Pacific, a 3-0 win on Oct. 13) helped the Vikings, Henninger said.

“We knew the locker room, we knew the surface,” she said.

Photo courtesy of WWU Athletics / Claire Henninger makes a save in the NCAA Division II national quarterfinal game. A former Sequim soccer standout, Henninger is a graduate student at Western Washington University and helped the WWU women’s soccer team earn its second national title with a 2-1 win over West Chester (Pa.) on Dec. 3.

Photo courtesy of WWU Athletics / Claire Henninger makes a save in the NCAA Division II national quarterfinal game. A former Sequim soccer standout, Henninger is a graduate student at Western Washington University and helped the WWU women’s soccer team earn its second national title with a 2-1 win over West Chester (Pa.) on Dec. 3.

“Coming in knowing we were going to play a team undefeated, it was kind of tantalizing [to] hopefully be the team to end that,” Henninger said.

“The pressure was on them; we had nothing to lose.”

In the end, Western kept the pressure on at a high level, out-shooting West Chester in overall shots (25-3) and shots-on-goal (11-2).

Tera Ziemer opened the scoring at 15 minutes, but West Chester got the equalizer from Alyson Cutter 10 minutes later.

“They had a great goalkeeper, a great defense,” Henninger said of West Chester. “Everyone worked their butts off [to] create a lot of chances.”

It stayed 1-1 through the first half and most of the way through the second half, until freshman forward Claire Potter found the net for the game-winner.

“We’re very committed to the defense, so we’re in a lot of tight games,” Western coach Travis Connell said in a postgame press conference.

“We had a ton of belief that it would come eventually. And if the winning goal didn’t come, we were going to win it in penalty kicks.”

Added Henninger at the press conference, “We didn’t want them to get close we didn’t want to give them any good chances.

“I think we did everything we wanted.”

The postseason effort — 11 saves, just three goals allowed, two shutouts while playing every minute — earned Henninger a spot on the 2022 NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championships All-Tournament Team.

Looking ahead

Henninger is a graduate student at Western Washington studying kinesiology (the study of the body’s movement) and is pursuing a master’s degree in kinesiology/sports and exercise psychology.

That degree, she said, could lead to a job in research, coaching, teaching or some other path, but that she is “pretty open still kind of figuring it out.”

Before she departs the Bellingham school, however, she has another year of eligibility to help Western try for a repeat title.

“I’m really excited to see it develop,” Henninger said.

“The bar’s high, but we like it that way.”