“All we need is one,” echoed the small, but spirited, crowd full of close friends and family at the Washington men’s soccer team’s final spring game. It was at home at Husky Soccer Field last Saturday against Seattle University.

“We knew this was going to be a fight,” said Washington coach Dean Wurzberger.

With SU’s plan to become a Division I school, the Redhawks were a natural candidate to play during this spring tune-up.

“This is now going to be a new big intercity rival,” Wurzberger said. “This is going to be our Apple Cup every year, so we knew it would be hard fought. … I was very pleased by the way we played today.”

Though they clearly outshot the other team, the Huskies just couldn’t get the ball to find the back of the net, resulting in a 0-0 draw with SU.

“Our lack of ability to score this spring has been obvious,” Wurzberger said.

That’s due in part to a major gap left in the attack by the two graduating senior forwards, Ely Allen, who was a top draft pick for the L.A. Galaxy, and Kevin Forrest, who was drafted by the Colorado Rapids. The two, collectively referred to as “Thunder and Lightning,” along with freshman standout Ellis McLoughlin, who is pursuing soccer in Germany, scored the bulk of Washington’s goals last fall.

“We’ve had to realign our attack a little bit, so that’s been a concern,” Wurzberger said.

However, with some tweaking and a crop of new freshman recruits who are among the best in the Northwest, including signees Brent Richards and Casey McCool, Washington’s attack is expected to shape up in time for autumn.

Some familiar faces also made an appearance in the game, including junior midfielder JoJo Katz and redshirt sophomore Rylan Hawkins, both of whom were missing on the field for the majority of the season due to an injury.

Hawkins’ recovery and return also makes for some stiff competition in the goalkeeper position taken over by redshirt freshman Stephen Fung last season.

“It’s really his spot for me to earn because he played this last year and that’s just going to be a challenge,” Hawkins said. “You don’t play as well when you don’t have someone right there pushing you, so I’m actually more excited having a guy just to compete with. … It’s the name of the game. You have to compete.”

With returners holding down the midfield along with the backline, Washington was successful in finishing a solid spring slate with new hopes for the fall.

“I feel pretty confident,”said junior co-captain George John. “We got off to a rocky start in the spring with different players playing different positions and dealing with a lot of injuries, but these past two games we played pretty strong, and today we should have won. … I’m feeling pretty excited about this upcoming fall season.”