Photos courtesy of Arizona Athletics
(Tucson, AZ) Troy Hutchison
Headed into Friday night’s matchup Arizona was winners of six straight, with huge wins against Boise State and Baylor last weekend at home.
During this stretch Arizona’s defense has been stellar giving up only one single goal during the streak, including Baylor who was an elite eight team last season.
Arizona began the night short handed with an injury to Brooke Wilson who has been a spark for Arizona so far.
Like most games for the Wildcats, the game started off a with a back and forth battle between Arizona and Cal State Fullerton for control of the ball and momentum. Eventually, Arizona was able to get a rhythm going offensively, by having four shots on goal in the first period.
Jada Talley
One player that really stood out for Arizona was Jada Talley, who had a total of three attempts, and one shot on goal.
The Wildcats out shot the Titans eight to one and were leading in corner kicks six to zero. Though Arizona took control of the first period the Wildcats went into halftime tied at zero.
In the second half, the Cats were on a mission taking the attack to Titans with four close shot on goal in the first six minutes.
Arizona got on the board with back to back goals from Jill Aguilera in the 55th minute and then Talley followed in the next minute putting the Cats a 2-0.
Jill Aguilera
Aguilera had this to say about her goal, “My left foot that Tony (Amato) wants me to work on after I came off the field he said great goal, and I knew that I made him proud on that goal because all our hard work during the spring and fall has paid off.”
Arizona was in control for most of the game, although the Titans were able to battle back and put Wildcats on the defense down the stretch.
The Titans finally got a shot past Arizona’s goalkeeper Lainey Burdett in the 69th minute with a goal from Samantha McKenna cutting Arizona’s lead to one. That was just the second goal Arizona has given up turning their six–game winning streak.
The final twenty one minutes of the second half was a physical battle between the two teams. Arizona’s defense was able to hold and took the match 2-1.
With the win the Wildcats improve to 7-1 and extended their winning streak to seven game headed into conference play. Their very first game will be against possible the best team in the country in Stanford.
Coach Amato had this to say about the mindset going into the match-up against the Cardinal, “There’s a lot we’ve got to do, and we’ve got to tighten it up this week, especially knowing who we got around the corner.” Asked what he would qualify as a success going into Palo Alto, which Tony answered with a simple, “Win.”
Arizona will take on the Stanford Cardinal next Friday September 21st looking for their 8th straight victory. This will be Arizona’s toughest test thus far this season as Stanford is sitting at 7-0 a with the number one ranking in the country.
Click the link to visit our sponsor!
