Harrison Bertos golden goal in OT gives Washington men's soccer first national championship

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Washington players celebrates after defeating North Carolina State to win the NCAA College Cup National Championship soccer final in Cary, N.C., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.  (Ben McKeown / Associated Press)

Harrison Bertos scored the golden goal for the Washington Huskies in the second minute of overtime to give UW its first men's soccer national championship with a 3-2 victory over North Carolina State.

After squandering a 2-0 lead to the Wolfpack in the second half, Bertos delivered the Huskies the game-winner just 1:54 into the extra period with a touch that beat goalkeeper Logan Erb for the clinching goal.

The Huskies had to hold their breath after erupting in celebration as the goal was reviewed for a potential offsides call. However, the goal stood on review and the Huskies erupted for a second time.

"It's an unreal feeling," Bertos told ESPN. "I love these boys, Every single one of them. They put their heart into this team and we didn't give up. Two goals up and they tied it. I thought we were down, but we had a great pep talk in overtime. It was just ‘don’t give up, keep going.' Egor hit his shot, it bounced off to me, I hit it under the keeper's legs, and the rest is history."

Alex Hall delivered a crossed ball from the right flank to Richie Aman on the left that prompted the review to see if Charlie Kosakoff was caught ahead of the play for offsides. Aman and Kosakoff set up a shot for Egor Akulov in the box that deflected onto the left foot of Bertos as he got enough on the follow for it to find the back of the net.

"To give up a goal with three minutes to go, and to lift our heads back up and to go after it again was incredible," head coach Jamie Clark said, via ESPN.

Washington also made it to the College Cup Final in 2021, falling 2-0 to Clemson in the title match. Goalkeeper Jadon Bowton was the lone holdover from that team, and he had five saves for the Huskies in the victory.

North Carolina State tied the match at 2-2 with less than four minutes to play to force overtime. After going up 2-0 in the 62nd minute, the Huskies were on their heels the rest of regulation as the Wolfpack rallied to force overtime on Taig Healy's goal in the 87th minute.

Washington struck first to take the lead late in the first half in the 44th minute.

An aggressive challenge by Erb against Washington forward Nick O'Brien was unable to get the ball out of danger. With the net essentially empty and Erb out of position at the top of the box, Zach Ramsey followed with a strike into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Washington pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute to take firm control of the match.

Joe Dale flashed in front of a Wolfpack defender right in front of the goal to redirect a pass from Aman by a diving Erb for a two-goal advantage and less than 30 minutes to play for a championship.

Trailing by two, North Carolina State began to press forward aggressively in an attempt to get back into the match, and it paid off quickly.

Donavan Phillip – the ACC Offensive Player of the Year – scored in the 65th minute to cut the deficit to one.

On a juggled ball in the box, Phillip managed to get a left foot touch to a ball that got through Bowton as the Wolfpack got on the board with just under 25 minutes left to play.

The Huskies had to fend off numerous chances from NC State as the Wolfpack lived in the offensive half of the field for most of the second half of the match. 

The pressure finally cracked the Huskies less than four minutes away from the title. Calem Tommy and Justin Mclean combined to tee up a shot from Healy from atop the box that cleanly beat a diving Bowton with 3:29 left to play to tie the game at 2-2.

Ashed Hestad was able to get a good shot on goal just six seconds after Healy's tying tally for Washington, and Alex Hall also got a shot on target just a minute later, but Erb delivered a pair of saves as the game shifted to overtime.

After the break between periods, Washington was back on the attack in overtime. It didn't take long for the Huskies to build up the attack that led to the winning goal.

In all the commotion, Clark had to be told by the broadcast who actually scored the winning goal.

"We live by the Bertos, we die by the Bertos! That was our saying all year," Clark told ESPN. 

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