The Arizona Wildcats are coming off one of the best stretches of their soccer season. They upset No. 8 USC 1-0 in Los Angeles, played top-ranked UCLA close before falling 1-0, and then topped Colorado 2-0 on Friday night.
At 5-6-2 overall and 2-4-0 in league play, the Wildcats are second-to-last in the Pac-12 standings, nine points behind Stanford, USC and UCLA, who are tied for first place.
Despite this seemingly insurmountable gap to the top of the conference, coach Becca Moros believes that her squad is playing at a level far better than their record would indicate.
Moros talked to Star about Arizona’s recent uptick in play and hopes for the remainder of the season. The Wildcats play Washington on Thursday night in Seattle, and will take on Washington State on Sunday in Pullman.
You’re coming off a road trip to California, where you upset USC and had a tough, close loss to UCLA. What did you take away from the trip?
A: “I think that we’ve taken away a certain amount of confidence. It’s validated a lot of things we’ve been working towards that we hadn’t been able to establish on a consistent basis, but we’ve seen signs of it as we’ve been playing ... some very good teams. We seem to put together our better performances against stronger teams, whereas we’ve struggled a little bit when we’ve had opportunities where we could dominate, or feel like we should. So I think mentally we’re looking at that to figure out how we take the mentality that we took into those games and bring that into every game we play.”
There have been a lot of contributions from underclassmen. (Sami Baytosh, Arizona’s co-leader in goals and leader in assists and shots on goal, is a freshman). How do you explain their development?
A: “I think there’s a lot of things. One: they come from soccer backgrounds, they played on good club teams, for good coaches who we feel fit style-wise with what we’re trying to do here, and so they have good foundations and development in that sense. They’re very well-rounded people, and have a good mentality, mindset, and willingness to come out. They’ve had to compete hard to get time and spots, but they’ve done really well. The team overall is young, so there is opportunity there, which has been nice for those guys … I think that they’ve done really well with the opportunities that they’ve gotten, and they continue to improve every day. The environment overall and the culture set by the upperclassmen has been one that’s conducive for growth, and for younger players to have big impacts.”
Could you speak about future recruiting classes, as you’re starting to establish yourself here. What are your long-term goals for both recruiting and the program?
A: “Of course, with college athletics recruiting is such a big deal because you graduate a quarter of your roster every single year. Usually you’re graduating your most experienced, established players whether it’s on the field or in leadership positions, so there are always big roles needing to be filled by underclassmen coming in. It’s huge to develop the players that are here, and we’ve seen that with a lot of players growing in big ways. As far as recruiting goes, it’s the style of the soccer that we play, and the culture of the team, so when people come in and get to meet the team and be a part of the environment, and see the training environment, see how the girls respond to each other, see what the locker room is like, see what the campus is like, can they imagine themselves here, and being happy and successful? We don’t play like everybody; if you want to play and see a lot of the ball, compete every minute in training, have lots of opportunities to grow, then this is a good environment for you.”
Becca Moros says the Wildcats (and other conference teams) could benefit from USC and UCLA’s planned departure to the Big Ten.
How do you think USC and UCLA’s planned departure for the Big Ten will impact recruiting in the Pac-12? Could you see Arizona rising to the top of the conference?
A: “That’s always where we’ve had our eyes set. We think we’ve built in the right way to do that, on a reasonable and somewhat quick timeline. Obviously, if you remove two of the top four to five teams in the conference every single year, then the top of the conference gets closer, but everybody in the conference is going to be gunning for those same top spots. Recruiting-wise, it’s hard to say what impact that’s going to have, for those schools to be traveling where they’re going to be traveling that’s going to be an interesting thing to see how that’s managed.
“You know, in football and basketball, it’s different; flights are always chartered, and you’ve got a lot more resources that are supporting you making those trips. But a soccer trip goes from a Wednesday to Sunday, you’re going across the country, you’re hitting three different time zones, you’ve got school and different things. It is to be seen how that impacts the recruiting landscape. I can imagine all the teams they’re playing against will really enjoy their West Coast trips, but I’m not really sure how that’s going to pan out for those West Coast teams making the big trips in soccer and other Olympic sports … it won’t hurt us from a recruiting standpoint.
The Wildcats made big strides in coach Becca Moros’ second season.
You played the game for a decade in the pros. How does that help your ability to recruit and coach players?
A: “I think every coach has their unique experiences, skill-sets, and things that they bring to the table … I certainly know the mindset, mentality, training habits, and style of play at the next level. Those are things that I’m very comfortable with and understand how to mentor you, in terms of if you want to go (pro). I know what that is like, and I can help develop that foundation that allows you to launch into a career past college soccer, and I have great relationships with probably two-thirds of the coaches or general managers in the league (NWSL), so that’s a huge advantage. I was 34 when I retired, and I know what it takes for longevity, I know what it takes to dominate for an extensive period of time and a career. Those are different things that you do as a young player, than you need to be able to do as you age through the game, and be competitive, and have an impact, so teaching some of those more sophisticated things that allow you to be relevant later in your career are things that young players can have and having them early can give them twice an advantage.”
Forgetting individual goals, where do you think this team could go both this year and in the future?
A: “They know they’re right there. There’s a difference between having that ability and being able to put it together every single game. When you look at the top teams in the country, it’s because they are at that place where they can do that, they can put together their best performance week-in and week-out. That is something where we are in the process of proving to ourselves. ... They can definitely compete for titles, I have no doubt about it, and they know that I believe that. The way we compete may just be different than other teams, and we take pride in that, and believe in that.”
