Arizona soccer drops back-to-back games in the Bay Area

The Arizona soccer team took a road trip to the San Francisco Bay Area in California to face off against two Pac-12 opponents in the University of California Berkeley and No. 3 Stanford University. The Wildcats will be returning to Tucson empty-handed.

Thursday, Sept. 28: Arizona (4-2-3) vs. Cal (4-3-2)

Arizona lost to Cal on Thursday, Sept. 28, at Edwards Stadium for their first in-conference road game. The Wildcats came into the game with a 4-2-3 record and the Golden Bears sat at 4-3-2, with both teams needing wins to get their seasons back on track.

Arizona’s starting lineup consisted of Hope Hisey, Megan Chelf, Sarah Rice, Nyota Katembo, Aranda Hurge, Sami Baytosh, Ella Hatteberg, Marley Chappel, Nicole Dallin, Savannah Holley and Desiree Foster.

Cal was all over Hisey’s goal, taking four corner kicks in the first two minutes. It was an immediate wake up call for Arizona, who began to play more aggressively. The teams traded fouls, with Cal’s Skylar Briggs picking up her first in the 3rd minute. Dallin then fouled a Cal player just before the 6th minute. Holley picked up Arizona’s second consecutive foul in the 8th minute, before a second Cal foul occurred in the 10th minute. This prompted the Golden Bears to make a substitution in the 12th minute.

Dallin ripped a shot towards the bottom left of the net in the 13th minute that forced Cal goalkeeper Teagan Wy to make a save. The game then became very slow paced with little action aside from fouls. Possession wasn’t dominated by either team but the physicality was on display, with Katembo picking up a yellow card in the 38th minute.

The half ended 0-0.

The Golden Bears had an early goal in the first seven minutes of the second half, making the score 1-0 Cal.

Chelf and Dallin both then took a shot apiece on goal and missed. Baytosh then also had a shot on goal that forced a save from Wy. In the 70th minute, a foul was called on Cal player Kaylee Nguyen was given a yellow card for the second of the game. The game became very scrappy. Another yellow card was called on a different Cal player a minute later. Then, while trying to protect the goal, Hatteberg fouled and received the fourth and final yellow card of the game. In the 76th minute, Cal’s Ari Manrique scored a goal for the Golden Bears. The score became 2-0 Cal.

The game never picked up from there. Both teams made a few substitutions and shots on goal, but nothing came out of them as time ticked down. The game ended 2-0 Cal, and Arizona set their sights on their ranked matchup later in the weekend.

Sunday, Oct. 1: Arizona (4-3-3) vs. No. 3 Stanford (9-0-1)

Arizona was crushed 3-0 by Stanford’s No. 3-ranked team on the road at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.

Going into the game, the Wildcats knew it was going to be a tough one. Stanford’s record before playing Arizona was 9-0-1 and their in-conference record was 2-0.

Chappel charged the Cardinal net and took a shot in the bottom center of the goal but it was saved by Stanford goalkeeper Ryan Campbell in the 2nd minute. A Stanford player then took down Chappel in the 4th minute, who was then awarded a free kick. Dallin also took a shot on goal in the 7th minute, but it was again saved by Campbell.

Stanford then had four opportunities on Hisey. In the 9th minute, the Arizona defense blocked a shot taken by the Cardinal. Then in the 10th minute Stanford’s Maya Doms ripped a shot bottom left forcing Hisey to make a save. In the 12th minute, a third consecutive shot was taken on Hisey by Stanford’s Mia Bhuta, but the shot flew over the top of the goal.

In the 14th minute, Stanford finally hit paydirt and scored their first goal. Doms smacked a right-footed shot into the top right of the goal making it 1-0 Cardinal.

This goal gave Stanford a little pep in their step. The Cardinal was all over Arizona‘s box and multiple shots were taken, but they were either saved by Hisey or wide of the net. However, in the 43rd minute, Stanford’s Maryn Wolf scored in the bottom left corner making the score 2-0 Cardinal at the half.

At the start of the second half, Arizona made three substitutions and Stanford made four. The ball went out-of-bounds on both sides, and the game slowed down a little bit. There were five fouls called on Arizona and four fouls on Stanford leading up to the third and final goal of the game.

In the 80th minute, the Cardinal scored its third goal of the game courtesy of Elise Evans with an assist from the duo of Katie Duong and Jasmine Aikey.

The game ended 3-0. Arizona‘s new record sits at 4-4-3. The Wildcats took seven shots in the game and Hisey saved five shots. The Wildcats will go on to play Washington State University at home on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. at Murphy Field at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium.