It was a tale of diametrically opposed halves. The Arizona Wildcats dominated possession in the first half of Thursday evening’s soccer match. The Iowa State Cyclones were more aggressive in the second half. The difference was that the Cyclones took advantage of their opportunities to emerge with the 1-0 victory in Ames, Iowa.
The Wildcats had four corner kicks in the first 45 minutes. The Cyclones had none. Arizona had open shots at the goal that didn’t amount to anything.
In many cases, the Wildcats
made good runs. Narissa Fults was especially effective in getting the ball in a position to cross during the opening half. As they have in previous games against stronger competition, the Wildcats were left with no one to cross to on far too many occasions. Fults’ runs and creativity were wasted.
After the win against GCU on Sunday, Moros said that team needed to improve on getting players in the right situation to receive the pass in the box. She said just a slight improvement each game, because they could see where the goals should be coming from. Unfortunately, the Wildcats went back to creating situations where you could see where the goals should come from, but they just couldn’t produce.
Ella Hatteberg found space up the right side during the second half, advancing the ball into Arizona’s offensive third repeatedly. As with Fults in the first half, her efforts went to waste more often than not.
In the second half, Iowa State pushed forward with greater success than in the first. The Cyclones earned five corner kicks to two for Arizona. Their halftime adjustments paid off.
Both teams played their possession style through the first half. Arizona was superior at the style when it came to keeping possession. So, the Cyclones threw in some wrinkles during the second half. It’s something Arizona head coach Becca Moros said ISU head coach Matt Fannon might do.
“We assume we’ll see what we’ve been seeing from them [on film] this season, but he’s also changed stuff up to play against us in the past,” Moros said before the team left for Iowa. “So a little bit of an unknown there.”
The goal came on a direct ball followed by a solid personal effort by Kasey Cannistraro. She dribbled up the field, around Arizona defenders, and easily poked it into the net.
The Wildcats had just over 11.5 minutes to equalize but couldn’t take advantage of the few opportunities they produced.
ISU outshot Arizona 11-8. Shots on goal were 6-2 in the Cyclones’ favor. The Wildcats ended with six corner kicks to Iowa State’s five.
The loss gives Arizona an 0-1 record in Big 12 play and drops its overall record to 5-4. Iowa State improves to 4-1-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
It also does the Wildcats’ RPI no favors. They came in ranked No. 85 while ISU was at No. 114.
Arizona is trying to make its first NCAA Tournament under Moros in her fifth season at the helm. It also needs to finish in the top half of the Big 12 to make the conference tournament.
The Wildcats return home next week to face UCF at 7 p.m. MST on Thursday, Sept. 25.
