Two of the Wildcats’ three goals were career firsts
Arizona soccer used unusual tactics to defeat UCF on Thursday. On Sunday, new goal scorers instead of new tactics put the Wildcats over the top in a 3-1 victory over Oklahoma State.
Arizona needed help from new places when starting forward Aurora Gaines went out in fourth minute after getting injured. She was put in a boot and on crutches and did not return. Senior defender Maia Brown also had to be taken out in the fourth minute, although she was eventually able to return to the match.
“Initial tackle was good from the other team, but it just her foot stayed in the tackle and it went straight into Rory’s shin,” Arizona head coach Becca Moros said about Gaines’ injury. “So we just have to get it worked out. It’s probably a really big bruise, but we’re going to be careful until we really know.”
The absence of Gaines was especially concerning. Arizona has struggled to score goals in recent weeks. She leads the team in both goals (4) and points (11), so someone else had to step up. Several did.
“I think it was kind of more about our mentality,” said freshman forward Mireya Stephenson. “We’ve been practicing a lot of finishing. Practicing just taking our opportunities more, shooting them a little bit farther out. The play doesn’t have to be perfect. Not every goal has to be insanely beautiful. Just getting it in the back of the net.”
The practice paid off, including for Arizona’s defenders. Junior defender Marissa Arnst scored the first goal of her career. She had four shots with two on goal in her 90 minutes on the field. Her goal off the assist by senior Sami Baytosh put Arizona up 3-0 in the 75th minute. It was just one of seven shots taken by Arizona defenders.
“We went over a lot of film, and we exposed the areas that we thought that it would be best in creating chances,” Arnst said. “And so we exposed the area in the half space in the final third that we talked about all week. So we got there, we did what we needed to do.”
The other first-time scorer wasn’t as much of a surprise. Stephenson came in with just four shots in her seven appearances, but scoring is part of her role as a forward. Her fifth shot was the charm, giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the 67th minute.
Stephenson’s goal was somewhat of a backbreaker, coming just over five minutes after UA took the lead. The ‘Cats opening goal came from sophomore forward Narissa Fults in the 62nd minute. Fults had one of those goals that may not have been “beautiful” but was effective. She took the shot, then it bounced around off players before going in.
It wasn’t just about the win, though. The Wildcats were able to play their possession style of soccer while being highly successful on the offensive end. That’s something that has escaped them in some matches this season and caused them to alter some of their style late in Thursday night’s weather-affected match.
“I think that the front line is super, super talented, and they have to not just play, but threaten to get behind the line, and then that’ll actually allow us to play more,” Moros said. “So I think as they kind of find their ability to create for themselves and get into dangerous areas and make the defenses drop and scramble and mark and chase and try to cover each other and things like that, I think it opens up a lot of the the other parts of the game that we’re very good at.”
Arizona controlled possession for most of the match, but the Cowgirls didn’t give up. They got one goal back in the 89th minute when Sonora DeFini put the ball in the net. It was too little too late, though.
The Wildcats outshot the Cowgirls 22-6. They had 12 shots on goal compared to five for OSU. They also won the corner kick game 7-2.
The win improved the Wildcats’ record to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play. It should help Arizona’s RPI. It came into the match at No. 52 after improving 34 spots with the win over then-No. 21 UCF. The win over No. 37 OSU can only help that.
It also showed what Arizona can do when it’s playing with the kind of passion Moros wants to see.
“We’ve been playing well and not getting results, and so that can go either way, where people start to be like, maybe we’re not as good as we think we are, or we can dig deep and find a little bit more in our hearts and give a little bit more and have a little bit more of that competitive energy and passion and bring something a little intangible versus tactical or whatever,” Moros said. “We’ve outplayed people at times for long enough stretches in games, wrestling momentum back when we haven’t had it, and defending well…and then we’ve broken down in a few handful of situations we wish we didn’t, but overall, the football has been good. So as long as the belief, and that competitiveness and the ruthlessness, the tough types of intangible mentality pieces, as long as we can get those right then, we’ve got…a lot of potential to do excellent the rest of the way.”
Category: General Sports
