Bawling: Women’s College Soccer Team Honors Late Teammate With Wildly Inspiring Win

The University of Washington’s women’s soccer team won the 2025 Big Ten Tournament on Sunday, November 9, after a shoot-out win over the higher-ranked Michigan State. But what was already an impressive feat—since penalties are a difficult and stressful way to win a game—became even more poignant given what the team’s been through these past few months. The day before the Big Ten final, goalkeeper Mia Hamant, who helped the Huskies reach the semifinals of last year’s tournament, died on November 6 at 21 years old after a battle with kidney cancer. 

Hamant’s stats as a goalkeeper are wildly impressive—so impressive I’d expect she’d have been welcome into the National Women’s Soccer League with open arms after graduating from UW. As detailed in a TikTok by women’s sports enthusiast and reporter known as Coach Jackie J, Hamant was legendary: as a junior she was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team, had 15 starts across 17 appearances, posted the third-lowest single-season goals in the history of the Huskies’ women’s soccer program, was third in the nation for save percentage, and more. She sent the team to the 2024 Big Ten semifinals with a huge save in penalty kicks against Iowa.

@jcubedhax and now they’re on to the National tournament #womenssports #woso #ncaa #cancerawareness @Washington Athletics ♬ Stuff We Did (from ‘Up’) – Piano Version – your movie soundtrack

In April, Hamant was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer and began chemotherapy. She was just the 14th documented case of a specific type of kidney cancer (SMARCBC1), which affects mostly children and young adults. Scott Tykodi, an associate professor at UW and an oncologist, explained to Kiro News Radio how such a healthy young woman could be struck with such a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Kidney cancer is “sometimes referred to as the great imitator,” he said, which “can have all sorts of different symptoms” that are “really quite vague.” He added that most people “feel as though something is off, but chalk it up to the flu or a cold.”

After her diagnosis, Hamant had the full support of the entire University of Washington sports program—her teammates wore orange ribbons (used to raise awareness for leukemia and kidney cancer) on their unfirolsm and in their hair for games, their home soccer field was adorned in orange ribbons with Hamant’s initials on them, and the UW football team let her “sound the siren” at Husky Stadium during a game a few weeks back. According to Coach Jackie, after Hamant passed, the UW men’s basketball team wore shirts with her name in a heart on them, her ribbon appeared on football helmets, and the volleyball court was lit up in orange. 

The NWSL’s Seattle Reign and Orlando Pride also wore orange ribbons during their quarterfinal match on Friday. 

At the Big Ten finals against Michigan State on Sunday, UW players’ warmup shirts depicted a brick wall (a common nickname for good goalkeepers) with a “W” emblazoned on it and the words “shut out cancer” written below. Hamant’s goalie jersey was draped over a seat on the bench. 

The Huskies’ Kalea Eichenberger scored quickly in the first half, pointing to her wristband in celebration. But Michigan State drew a foul in the box and, after video review, was awarded a penalty kick, which Kayla Briggs netted to tie the game. 

With no clear winner after regulation play, the teams were forced to go to a shootout. Goaltender Tanner Ijams made a career-high six saves during regular play and two during the shootout. Every Washington player who went up for a penalty kick scored (first up Jadyn Holdenried lifted her uniform to show “For Mia” written on her compression shirt, second up Laura Cetina kissed her band, and Alex Buck sent kisses up to the heavens), with Julia Husch sending the last one in to clinch the title. 

“To win it in PKs is just an unbelievable moment for this team,” head coach Nicole Van Dyke said after the game. “Obviously, it’s been a hard week, but it just shows how much this team loves each other, how much they care about each other, and how much we love Mia.” When asked if Mia was there during the game, Van Dyke said, “Mia’s been with us the whole time. She’s a part of everything we do, and she will always be. I can’t put into words how appreciative we are of the support that everyone has given her, her family, this team, our program. I’m just so happy for these kids.”

Pass the tissues.

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