Arizona’s soccer season isn’t over yet. The Wildcats hope it’s just beginning.
You could hear a pin drop at the Sands Club in Arizona Stadium on Monday where the NCAA Tournament women’s bracket was announced. Anxiously awaiting their fate, the Wildcats sat together in hopes of making it to the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
Although the UA has been near the top 25 for most of the season, there was still a wave of shock across the room when its name flashed on the TV.
Coach Tony Amato bit his tongue to make sure he was seeing things right and then took to the crowd of players to cheer in excitement. Every player joined Amato in screaming to embrace the fact that their was another game to play.
Arizona will play Denver at home at 7 p.m. Friday to kick off the tournament. Although it wasn’t a surprise to the team that they qualified, the dramatic effect still lingered when they eagerly waited to find out if they would host.
“I’m so excited,” senior Kennedy Kieneker said. “I looked at Lainey (Burdett) once I saw we were hosting and I was like, ‘Yes!’ I want to play here in front of all the fans, and I know last year when we played against TCU here, it was crazy, we had people all along the sidelines, so I’m really excited for that.”
Junior midfielder Kelcey Cavarra also remembers the adrenaline last year’s NCAA Tournament home game brought and was excited to learn they get to do it all over again.
“Last year it was awesome playing TCU under the lights, we had a huge crowd, so that’s just really exciting that we get to play in front of our community,” Cavarra said.
Last week’s 1-0 win against ASU boosted the team’s confidence for the big announcement.
“It was in the back of all of our heads, we’d kind of be surprised if we weren’t hosting just given our RPI rankings and all that, but it was definitely good to see our name up there,” Cavarra said.
Two years ago, the Cats didn’t qualify for the tournament, which the upperclassmen say leaves a void that they didn’t want to experience this year. Amato got emotional after the glee wore off and addressed his team about how proud he is.
“That’s a massive accomplishment,” Amato said. “If you’re one of our senior players, you know what it feels like to not get in the tournament, right, how empty and hollow that is. … When we got here six years ago, honestly the person who hired me asked, ‘Do you think we could ever get in the tournament?’”
Amato credits the sheer talent that the program has uncovered over the last couple of years, praising the players Monday afternoon.
The last time Arizona played Denver was two years ago at the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, when UA won 3-0.
“We’ll have to dive into some film,” Amato said. “We had some common opponents — they play Colorado every year — so we’ll look at some things and know that they typically play Pac-12 teams really tight, so it’ll be a tough game we’ll have to get ready for.”
Goalkeeper Burdett is also basking in the moment and looking forward to being a Wildcat a little longer, but knows what it takes to excel in the tournament.
“Making it here and it being my last year, it’s just a really good feeling and you want to just ride this wave as far as you can,” Burdett said.
“We’ve been in this position before and we know what needs to be done in order to move on in the tournament.”
Arizona is 9-1-2 at home this season and 12-5-2 overall. Denver is 5-4 on the road and 13-5-2 overall.
“There’s no room for error at this point,” Burdett said. “When you’re done, you’re done.”
