Getting shots has been difficult for Arizona soccer of late. The Wildcats seem to have shaken that off this weekend but the end result was still another loss as No. 12 Texas Tech defeated UA 2-0 on Sunday
afternoon.
The Wildcats had a total of 10 shots against West Virginia, Cincinnati, and Utah over the first two weeks of October. They had 11 in a 3-2 loss at BYU on Thursday and seven more against the Red Raiders on Sunday. The next step is putting an end to their five-game losing streak.
They will need a defense that is reeling with injuries to step up, as well.
“I think we made a couple of mistakes on the goals where we needed to be a little bit better in the first half,” said Arizona head coach Becca Moros. “We knew they were always going to have chances. I think we also had some chances and opportunities. But I think it’s just when you’re playing a team that’s that good, and individually, the players are good, if you give them enough of an opportunity, you don’t make the play you need to make, then the balls can be in the back of the net on two occasions. We sat too deep on the second phase of the first goal, and then the second goal we needed to cover and get across, and I think we just didn’t do those details in those moments.”
The team conceded both goals in the first half. The first one came on a shot from distance by Raleigh Greason after a deep throw-in in the 10th minute.
The second came in the 34th minute when Taylor Zdrojewski put one in off the right foot after a run by Macy Blackburn.
The Wildcats spent much of the game trying to fill in for defensive injuries. Starting defender Ella Hatteberg was injured after playing just 18 minutes.
“Hatteberg’s off at the surgeon getting her mouth fixed,” Moros said. “She got nailed in the first half. So yeah, we definitely have some stuff that kind of made those decisions necessary.”
Some of the other things that made those decisions necessary were nagging back injuries that caused Aranda Hurge to leave the game after 44 minutes and an injury to Kennedy Fletcher that kept her from even being at the field. Sophomore defender Zoe Mendiola played the entire 90 minutes, as did senior Maia Brown and junior Marissa Arnst. Midfielder Trinity Dorsey came in as a defender, as well.
The Wildcats held with the Raiders statistically in all but the one stat that matters. TTU had eight shots to Arizona’s seven. Four of the Raiders’ shots were on goal while three of the Wildcats’ shots were on goal. Arizona earned six corner kicks to three for Texas Tech.
All of those things were encouraging for an offense that has struggled, especially in conference play. However, the fact remains that they were held scoreless for the fifth time in eight Big 12 matches.
Another bright spot for the Wildcats was the play of freshman midfielder Whitney Reinhardt, who made just the second start of her career and played all 90 minutes.
“Whitney’s winning more tackles than anybody on the team,” Moros said. “Her work rate is unmatched. She’s covering ground defensively. Offensively, she competes on every ball that’s served in the box. She’s five-foot-four and winning all of the set pieces and crosses, if anybody’s gonna win it…so I think that her mentality is just exceptional in the way she’s developed as a player throughout her career. It’s kind of a no-brainer that she’s at this point. This is the type of player she is. We knew as a freshman, there might be a little bit of ups and downs, but when she got her game legs under her, you are going to see that every single day. And I think Whitney will be this player and this consistent her whole career.”
For Reinhardt, getting her legs under her has been a difficult process, but she feels that the support of her teammates and coaches has gotten her through that.
“With every transition comes some difficulty,” Reinhardt said. “So I was pretty hard on myself at the beginning with everything, but I’ve just reminded myself to enjoy the journey and remind myself how much I love this game. I’ll do anything for this game and to get better. I love this team, I love the coaches, and I’ve just felt so much support being at Arizona.”
Fighting to the end is part of that process, both in practice and on gameday.
“I think we battled,” Reinhardt said. “Competed till the final, just got unlucky. Tech is a good team.”
Arizona will have another rough week with one game at home and another on the road, but it should not be as difficult as this week. Before they left for Provo, UT for Thursday’s game at BYU, Moros said what made this week difficult was the extent of the travel between matches—especially when TTU would be staying in the state of Arizona between its matches at ASU and UA. She didn’t think the logistics would be as difficult with the first game of next week coming at home.
“We play at home and then travel,” Moros said. “So that means we have the one travel between. So that’s like in a normal away trip. We don’t come back till the games are done.”
The competition doesn’t get easier, though. Arizona will face No. 14 TCU and No. 21 Colorado in its next two matches.
