After developing in the Timbers Academy and for Portland Timbers 2, Blake Bodily is a big reason why the University of Washington men’s team is experiencing a breakout season.

In the United Soccer Coaches preseason rankings, the University of Washington men’s team found itself in the “also receiving votes” group. In the latest poll, the Huskies sit at #2 and junior Blake Bodily is a big reason for that and he’s not surprised by the success. “Coming into the season I knew that we had a special team and that we were capable of doing big things this year so I am not too surprised,” he said. “I’m sure some people who were looking at us from the outside at the start of the season are surprised now because we lost a decent amount of starters last year that we had to replace and I think we’ve done a great job of that.”

This season, the 2017 Pac-1 has four goals and four assists, bringing his career tallies to nine goals and 16 assists. His experience before arriving on campus in 2016 has helped him hit the ground running in the NCAA. Blake was a standout with the Portland Timbers Academy. Discussing the players he played alongside and against on that level, he said, “Playing in the Timbers Academy I played with and against a lot of good players! Some of my old teammates such as Marco Farfan and Carlos Anguiano are with the Timbers first team and Timbers 2 right now and are doing very well.”

“Another one of my teammates, Terrell Lowe was with T2 for a while and is a great player. I have played against tons of talented players while playing academy. Handwalla Bwana played with the Sounder Academy and then was my teammate at UW, and is now playing with the Sounders first team. There are tons of other players that I can recall playing against who are now doing big things.”

He transitioned from the Academy to Portland Timbers 2 of the USL, registering four goals and two assists in his time there. Blake explained, “I think my USL experience has helped me immensely. I got to opportunity to play with people who bigger, faster, stronger, and overall better players than I was used to in Academy and by experiencing that, it opened up my eyes to what playing professionally was like and how college soccer was going to be. Without having that USL experience I think my transition to college soccer wouldn’t have been as easy.”

Long before that transition, Bodily had to make the transition from his home state, Idaho, to the Pacific Northwest. I asked him to tell us something about the Gem State because not a lot of people know much about it and he answered, “I get that a lot! Not a lot of people are super familiar with Idaho but it is an awesome place.”

“There is a ton of outside activities to do anytime during the year. You can float the river, go rafting, or go out on the boat in the summer while in the winter you can head up to the mountains and go skiing or snowboarding. I loved growing up in Idaho and I think it is a little hidden gem that not many people know about.”

Rather than braving the wilderness tonight, Blake Bodily will lead his team against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Husky Soccer Stadium. The match kicks off at 7 PM Pacific Time and will be live on the Pac-12 Network.