(Tucson, AZ) Troy Hutchison
So far this season, the Arizona Wildcats have had excitement and thrilling finishes. Their in the midst to of the longest soccer winning streak since 2004. The season is a mere eight games in.
All of that will be put to the test this Friday night in Palo Alto. Arizona gets set to take on the #1 Stanford Cardinal.
The Cats and Stanford are both off to hot starts. The Cardinal have seven wins to go along wih a tie against #6 Santa Clara.
This Stanford team is battled tested coming into this game with an enormous win over then #2 North Carolina.
During this time Stanford has been clicking both on offense averaging nearly three goals a game, while holding opponents to under a goal a game.
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Arizona counters mostly with the same tough play. The Cat’s offense has averaged just over 2.6 goals a game, and the defense has been incredible holding opponents to 0.3 goals a game.
This match-up is a true battle of strength versus strength as both teams are very similar in how they’ve been able to win games.
I attended Arizona’s practice this week looking to see how such a young team gets mentally ready for a tough road test.
Senior goalkeeper Lainey Burdett had this to say, “I think it’s just kind of letting people know that these are the games that you live for, you want to play against these types of teams. It’s a great challenge, and so it’s just really going into it knowing we have nothing to lose here and just putting everything out on the line.”
Later I asked Burnett how Arizona’s defense will continue their strong play going into this game. “We’ve got to continue to play and defend as a team and just really working as a defensive unit by getting the mid-fielders and forwards involved to which has really help us moving forward in each game.”
The Cats and Cardinal battle Friday night to open PAC-12 play. If Arizona wins, it will be by holding their opponents to few scoring opportunities and converting on the offensively by finishing scoring chances.
