The Arizona Wildcats have now given up four penalty kicks this season. Their goalkeepers have saved three of them. Laurynn Ziller’s save against NAU in the second half was just one big play that lifted the Wildcats to a 3-0 victory over the Lumberjacks at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium Thursday evening.
The Wildcats weathered an early storm when the ‘Jacks looked confident and dangerous over the first 10 minutes of the match. The home team imposed its will for the rest of the game on the way to scoring a season
high three goals.
“I think we honestly just came out a little bit flat,” said sophomore midfielder Allyson Brown. “And we talked about it going into the second half. Like 2-0 is the worst lead to having soccer, so making sure we came out really hard and didn’t let them get the best of us in the first 20 minutes of the second half like they did the first half.”
Part of the success came from taking better shots than they did in last week’s loss to Dartmouth.
“We were just saying not to settle for like half-assed shots from outside the 18,” Brown said. “And trying to build around and go for more goals that we know we can make instead of taking stuff that we’ve never even taken in practice. And just being calmer on the ball and knowing that, like those are the types of games that we need to win to get to where we want to go at the end of season.”
Arizona got goals from Ella Weathersby (12’), Kyleigh Johnson (44’), and Brown (73’). It was the first time since last Sept. 18 that the Wildcats scored more than two goals.
The goals were important signs of the offensive firepower the Wildcats have been working on, but Arizona head coach Becca Moros was just as interested in how those goals happened. Weathersby got hers on an assist from Jessica Bedolla. Brown’s came on assists from Johnson and Emerson Stoft.
“Three different goal scorers, and not the same people automatically from other games,” Moros said. “We got a little bit of repeat, but Ally’s first goal for her. So, I mean, that’s positive. We have six, seven players in the attacking rotation, maybe eight for the front four players on the field, and we need all of them to be confident and able to put the ball in the back of the net, and then we will get some from other places as well…and I care a lot about the assists as well because that final pass is 90 percent of the goal. When our passes are too hard or too soft or badly timed or don’t find the run in the right space, those to me are the details that are really worth improving upon above and beyond the actual shooting technique.”
Weathersby gave the Wildcats some early breathing room by putting them ahead for the first time since their trip to Gonzaga on Aug. 20. The Wildcats had trailed or been tied for almost 282 minutes of play since their win in Spokane.
Johnson stayed with an attack to put a second chance in the net as the first half was waning. It was Arizona’s second multi-goal lead of the season, matching the two-goal margin of the Wildcats’ win over New Mexico State in its home opener.
It almost didn’t hold. Ashley May was called for a foul in the box in the 63rd minute. Micala Boex stepped to the spot for NAU, but Ziller came up big for Arizona. She credited her success to the scout from goalkeeper coach Nils Roth.
“[He] said she goes down the middle most of the time,” Ziller said. “So I listen to him. Listen to what my coach is saying. Trust their instinct. And so I stayed, and it worked.”
Penalty kicks have been an Achilles heel for the Wildcats this season. They surrendered one to Gonzaga and two to North Carolina before picking up their fourth against NAU. Moros is happy about the work of Ziller and fellow goalkeeper Sofia Cortes-Browne in keeping three of those from scoring, but she’s not as happy with the fouls that have been called.
“The Gonzaga foul was out of the box, so that should never have been a penalty kick,” Moros said. “This one, they called out of the box, reviewed it, and put it back in the box. So I think this was the most accurate probably call that’s been made. I thought both the calls against Carolina were soft, but if there’s contact in the box, then you open yourself to those calls, and so you got to get the ball first, or you got to move your feet and be disciplined defending…This was sloppy defending…We’re at three for four in saves, so we’d like to keep that percentage, but because we don’t give away any more PK. You can’t sustain that.”
The Wildcats only gave up one PK all of last season. They also picked up a yellow card on Thursday, giving them nine cautions this season. Last year they had just four.
Brown’s goal put the match out of reach, but there was a question about whether it went in. She wasn’t even certain.
“Honestly, no,” Brown said. “But I felt like just because the ref called it, I trusted that he knew and he saw that it went over the line. So I had a pretty good feeling that was going to be in.”
The official went to review immediately after signaling the goal. It was one of several reviews this season, most of which have not gone Arizona’s way. While the final review went their way, Moros isn’t entirely comfortable with the review system.
“Apparently they keep changing all the rules,” she said. “I can’t keep track of any of them, and I feel like each referee crew we’ve had is telling me different things. Apparently, there are two times when the referee themselves can review on their own whenever they want, and one is goal line, and one is time. So, if the clock is wrong, they can review the clock time and get it set correctly, and you know any goal line decision…And in the last 10 minutes the referee can elect to review anything they want, as well, but for some reason not in the other 80 minutes. So I don’t know who made these rules, but they’re very arbitrary.”
Bedolla and Johnson ended the game tied for points (5). The pair is also tied with Mireya Stephenson for the team high in goals scored (2).
Arizona now heads to Malibu where it will face Pepperdine in the final nonconference match of the season. The Wildcats then return to Tucson to open Big 12 host No. 13 BYU next week. The Cougars lost 4-0 to Utah State on Thursday.
Up Next for Arizona Soccer
Arizona Wildcats (3-3-1) @ Pepperdine Waves (3-2-2)
When: Sunday, Sept. 13 @ 12 p.m. MST
Where: Tari Frahm Rokus Field in Malibu, Calif.
Streaming: ESPN+
Stats: Arizona Live Stats
