Scoring goals has been difficult for Arizona soccer of late. The Wildcats had been outscored 12-3 over their recent 1-3 run. It felt good to get that monkey off their backs as five different players scored and four picked up assists in a 5-2 win over GCU at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium on Sunday morning.
“Last game, we had kind of the same opportunities in the first half early and we didn’t finish them,” sophomore forward Jessica Bedolla said. “But today we made sure that we did and our crosses were much
better.”
Bedolla scored the Wildcats’ first goal just five minutes into the game when fellow sophomore Aurora Gaines played the ball into her. It helped set the tone of the match, giving Arizona a bit of breathing space.
“That first goal, it got the momentum going,” Bedolla said.
Just minutes later, Gaines was on the receiving end of another good pass in the 19th minute. This time, GCU goalkeeper Emma Knack tried to clear the ball but it popped high into the air. Yet another sophomore came to the rescue when Narissa Fults settled the ball, beat her defender, and played it in front of the goal for Gaines.
“We’ve worked all practice long this week about our services across the box and actually getting there to finish it, because there’s no point in having a good service if no one’s there to finish,” Gaines said. “So, I just had to trust her, and I knew she’s a great player, so she’s gonna slot it across the six. And I was just there tapping in.”
All of the players and head coach Becca Moros went back to their practice goals and how they were able to enact them in the match.
“We’re getting closer and closer,” Moros said. “We are creating a lot of chances, which I think when you’re not creating chances, you really have to worry, because you don’t know where the goals are coming from. I think we can see where the goals could come from. We just have to be a little more precise in our crossing, which is what we focused on this week. But the action, both the run and where it terminates, and the timing of where you need to start your sprint to get where you need to go, and then the quality of the ball that’s delivered. If we can get those details right, even just 3 percent better each week, we have potential to score a ton of goals, because you can see the opportunities.”
In addition to the five goals, Arizona created several additional opportunities against the Lopes. The Wildcats took 19 shots with 11 of them on goal. Almost half of the shots on goal went in the net.
Moros was a bit concerned that Arizona let GCU back into the match in the second half. The Lopes had a penalty kick in the first half. It wasn’t struck solidly and goalkeeper Olivia Ramey guessed right to keep the lead at 2-0. GCU was able to get on the board in the run of play during the second half, though.
The first GCU goal came with Arizona still sitting on its 2-0 lead. Ellie Johannes scored her first goal as a member of the Lopes to cut the lead in half in the 64th minute.
The Lopes couldn’t maintain the momentum. Arizona struck back less than a minute later on a goal by defender Ella Hatteberg to go back up by two goals. Hatteberg’s second career goal came off the assist by fellow senior Sami Baytosh.
Before the season, Hatteberg said she hoped to get involved in the offense a bit more this year, especially on set plays. This wasn’t a set play, but she got involved.
“I don’t normally score, so definitely surprising,” Hatteberg said.
Junior forward Ella Weathersby subbed in for Fults with roughly 20 minutes to go and the Wildcats leading 3-1. She made her minutes count to the joy of her teammates and coaches.
“Dubs [had] a great week of training,” Moros said. “I mean, she was on fire. And then obviously getting her minutes—significant minutes in the first half—and another opportunity, it’s just easier to get yourself played into the game. It’s part of the reason we don’t do these five minute subs that you see. Soccer is just not a game where you can do a lot in five minutes. You need to get into the rhythm of the game and feel the chess match and look for your opportunities and your match ups and where you’re needed defensively and things like that. So I think with more minutes, you see her sort of coming alive in the game and getting just more total opportunities. So I think it was nice to see for us too. She works super hard.”
In the waning seconds of the 82nd minute, Bedolla took a shot. Knack saved it but couldn’t control the ball. Weathersby took the second shot for her first career goal.
“It kind of felt like it slowed down when I scored, and I was just so excited to run to my teammates, and it just felt good to help the team do whatever they need to win,” Weathersby said.
Arizona appeared to have to locked up at 4-1, but it wasn’t the end of the action for either team.
With less than two minutes on the clock, GCU once again cut the lead in half. Just as they did after the first goal by the Lopes, the Wildcats responded immediately.
Just over a minute after Caprice Chiuchiolo scored for the Lopes, Baytosh accounted for her second and third points of the match with her second goal of the season.
“The players said they wanted goals today, so they put goals in,” Moros said.
The Wildcats improved to 5-3 heading into Big 12 play against Iowa State (3-1-2) next week.
“The captains have been talking to us, and honestly, the whole team, we’ve been having the conversations amongst us, talking about, this was a big game for us today,” Gaines said.. “Going into Big 12, we needed a win here in order to get momentum, get confidence back going to into these really good teams. I mean, we have ISU next week, so, this is a really good win, and hopefully we can carry it on to the next.”
Sophomore defender Zoe Mendiola was injured during a hard foul in the first half. She left the game and did not return. She was wearing a sling on her arm after the match.
