The NCAA Women’s Soccer Selection Committee released its top 16 teams on Sunday. A nation-leading six came from the Big 12. Arizona has been competitive against all five of the top 16 teams it has faced, but it once again came up short against one of them on senior day at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium.
Baylor is No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 10 according to the committee. The Wildcats had multiple opportunities to at least get the draw but a head scratching video review that wiped away
a goal and a missed penalty kick turned out to make all the difference. The Bears escaped with a 3-2 victory.
“I’m very proud of them,” Arizona head coach Becca Moros said. “Thursday was not what we expected, and you only have a couple days to recover from that, but I think they showed their character, their commitment, their fitness level, their grit. They were awesome…We had our opportunity to tie, to go ahead, and I’m proud of that.”
The 16 teams released by the selection committee include No. 1 North Carolina, No. 6 Colorado, No. 10 Baylor, No. 14 BYU, and No. 16 Kansas, all of which appeared on Arizona’s schedule this season. The Wildcats will not face No. 7 Texas Tech or No. 12 West Virginia.
UA earned a draw against BYU and was competitive against all but Colorado. On Sunday, it even led Baylor. It just couldn’t close the deal, but it was a much stronger showing than earlier in the week against Colorado.
“It was just putting the past behind us, knowing that that wasn’t us, and that we can just do better, and making sure that we just focus on all the key details that we need to work on to get a great performance today,” said senior defender Aranda Hurge.
It was a contentious match. There were multiple video reviews. The most devastating one came in the 63rd minute. Arizona appeared to have the equalizer with its third goal of the match. Baylor challenged, saying there was a hand ball in the lead up to the goal. The goal was overturned.
Not only did the call wipe the goal off the scoreboard and return the lead to the Bears, but Arizona lost Moros to a red card when she argued the call. She had received a yellow earlier in the half.
Thursday was a difficult night for Arizona. They weren’t competitive against Colorado and they also had critical reviews go against them, including the one that gave the Buffaloes their first goal on a penalty kick. The Wildcats responded with one of their most aggressive offensive showings of the season on Sunday.
That offensive aggression had the Wildcats up 2-1 in the first half. Their issues with starting and ending halves came back to haunt them once again, though.
Arizona was thoroughly unprepared for the start of the match. Baylor was up 1-0 in 26 seconds. The Bears’ Callie Conrad took a throw-in, dribbled around a defender, then shot around the next one. It had the makings of a bad day for the Wildcats.
The home team didn’t let it get to them, though. They spent more time attacking in the first half than has been typical for them this season. The Wildcats outshot the Bears 7-4 in the opening 45 minutes. They won the corner kick battle 2-0 during that span.
It paid off for Arizona.
Ally Brown was fouled hard not far outside the box just as the 15th minute started. It gave Arizona a free kick in a prime spot. Lily Boydstun made a superb serve. Lainey Swanson sent it in on a header to draw the match even at 1-1 with the clock at 14:09.
Arizona wasn’t done. The Wildcats won the ball near midfield. Brown dribbled up the field then played it to Swanson. She put this one away with her feet for her second goal of the match. The Wildcats looked like a completely different team from just three days earlier. They led a top 10 opponent 2-1.
The Wildcats continued to get opportunities in the first half. Some led to shots. Some did not. They all showed a strong offensive mindset, though.
“We came out today with an adjusted formation,” said Arizona co-captain Ella Weathersby. “We’re really attacking-minded…Our counter-attacks is how we created that second goal. Thought Mireya [Stephenson] did a great job with her hold up play against their center backs, and Ally kind of anchoring the attack into the field was amazing. Obviously, getting two goals was huge. So yeah, looking forward to keeping this energy forward as we keep playing.”
The problem came on the other end. The Wildcats had been strong at both ends for all but the first minute of the match. They were now approaching the end of the half. The PA announced there was one minute left in the half. Ten seconds later, Baylor scored to even the match at 2-2.
Arizona challenged the goal, asking for a hand ball before the goal and a push by one of the Bears, but the goal stood.
The early-half difficulties cropped up again to start the second. Arizona had a goal kick but Baylor won the ball back deep into its offensive half. A shot from outside the box rocketed by Wildcat goalkeeper Laurynn Ziller. The Bears had scored two goals within 90 seconds of playing time on either side of halftime.
It wasn’t the final heartbreaker for Arizona. There were a couple yet to come.
The Wildcats were fighting for at least a draw, and they appeared to have it in the 63rd minute. Swanson picked off a Baylor pass midway between midfield and the 18. She passed it to Stephenson. Stephenson took the shot which deflected off the Bears defender and bounced into the goal.
Baylor challenged the goal, saying Stephenson had settled with her arm instead of her body. It was much like Arizona’s challenge on Baylor’s third goal. That goal was allowed to stand. This one was not. The tying goal was wiped away on the Bears’ challenge to the chagrin of Moros.
“They said we had a handball and we reviewed the exact same thing in the first half and they said it was not a handball,” Moros said. “So either I don’t understand the camera angles because I’m watching the same thing or I don’t understand what a handball is because it’s different in every single game, and we’ve been on both sides of it. It’s not always that we’ve gotten opportunities where things could have been a handball and they’re not. It’s just it seems like a flip of a coin if a call is not consistent…I’m sure other coaches are in the same spot. I’m not saying that’s a just for Arizona situation. That’s got to be growing pains across the board and the quality of the video feeds and review feeds are. I don’t know what they’re looking at because when I look at it, I can’t see the same thing half the time.”
Moros said something as she turned away from the official after the goal was disallowed and received her second card. She left the field via the eastside gate.
“I think this team has so much fight in us that our immediate response is, ‘Okay, let’s get the next one’,” Weathersby said. “Obviously, it’s a punch to the gut to have a goal called back, especially given how well we’ve been playing against a top 10 team. We proved we deserve to be here. We deserve to be in the Big 12 tournament. We deserve to compete with the top ranked teams. But this team has a never-say-die mentality.”
Arizona assistant coach Nat Gonzalez led the coaching staff for the Wildcats the rest of the match.
“Our assistant coaches are phenomenal and kept us in the game,” Weathersby said.
Gonzalez had a big call to make.
The Wildcats’ final heartbreaker came in the 83rd minute. Defender Zoe Mendiola was tripped in the box. Arizona was awarded a penalty kick and the opportunity to even the match.
Hurge got the call to take the PK. The defender had taken just three shots all season coming into the match and none were from the spot. She had taken 23 shots in her career before this match and ended the day with 25 in her career. Eight of the 23 were on goal. She had never scored, but she had one assist back in her freshman season. She was put in a position where she could be the heroine on her senior day, but it was a very unfamiliar position for her to be in.
It didn’t work out. Hurge’s shot went wide. The 3-2 score stood when the final horn went off.
The Wildcats honored six seniors before the match. All except defender Trinity Dorsey have one more year of eligibility due to the five-in-five rule. All except Shanti Weddington got on the field and made impacts.
“A little bit disappointed not to get Shanti in the game, but she kind of tweaked her groin before the game, and didn’t know how many times we could warm her up and cool her down before we’d have a bigger problem,” Moros said.
Arizona has two matches left against Arizona State and TCU. The Wildcats can still make it into the Big 12 Soccer Tournament, but they need help and they must win on the road.
The Wildcats stand three points behind West Virginia for the eighth spot in the standings. The Mountaineers have a .500 winning percentage to the Wildcats’ .444. The committee’s 10th-ranked team has matches against TCU and Cincinnati left. They will be heavily favored in both.
