The Arizona women’s soccer team wrapped up its regular season in style Thursday night, topping rival Arizona State 2-1 at Mulcahy Stadium.
Because of it, the Wildcats may get another home match. The NCAA Division I women’s soccer tournament bracket will be revealed Monday, and Arizona is likely to host.
The Wildcats have an impressive resume: a 10-4-4 record and a recent run of success. This year’s team is the first in program history to win seven or more conference matches.
“It feels like a really big, awesome accomplishment that I’m looking forward to telling the girls about,” UA coach Tony Amato said. “It’s hard to win games. It’s hard to win games in this league and to make history with winning seven Pac-12 games feels really good.”
Thursday was an underclassman showcase for the Wildcats as the goals were scored by freshmen Hannah Clifford and Amanda Porter.
Both Clifford and Porter were substituted into the game, which they said kept the team’s energy up and aggressiveness strong.
The Wildcats to a 1-0 lead in the first half thanks to Clifford’s goal off a corner, assisted by senior Charlotte Brascia.
ASU came back to tie the game during the 68th minute with a rare shot to get past UA goalie Lainey Burdett. Burdett had a total of five saves, all occurring in the second half.
It was Porter’s goal in the 75th minute, assisted by senior Gabi Stoian, that gave the Cats the lead for good. The assist was Stoian’s 22nd of her career and brings her within three of breaking the school record.
Arizona had a total of 15 shots compared to ASU’s eight. Porter and Stoian led the team with three shots each.
Arizona has gone unbeaten in the last seven matches and this momentum will prepare them for postseason. Amato thinks UA will host a tournament game, but it will depend on how other teams wrap up their seasons this weekend.
“We just know that we can’t take any team lightly,” Stoian said. “We’re not done yet. We’re just getting started.”
