Arizona women’s soccer returned home and made a statement by scoring five times off 26 total shots. Forwards Jill Aguilera and Jada Talley shined by scoring two goals each and combining for three assists in the 5-2 win over Oregon. The team was coming off a zero goal performance against Utah last week and was looking to get back on track with a win on Thursday.
“I feel like we put that Utah game behind us,” forward Jill Aguilera said. “We wanted to move forward and score some goals. Maybe that tied in with Utah that we weren’t able to score any, but I think overall it was focusing on Oregon and focusing on our attack and scoring.”
Arizona controlled the game from the opening whistle and created 13 shots in the first half, several of which were on goal, but entered the locker rooms with only one goal to show for it.
The opening score came in the 35th minute when a long through ball was thrown into Oregon’s defensive third. Jada Talley contributed to her first of four goals with a cross into the box that found Jill Aguilera, who promptly placed it into the back of the net. Talley said that it’s been the career-long chemistry that makes the two so successful with each other.
“I feel like we know each other’s strengths,” Talley said. “Me and her have been together for three years now … What I would do on the ball, Jill’s going to do off the ball, so I think it works great.”
The game took off in the second half when Arizona continued to hammer more shots at the net, but it was Oregon that scored first in the final 45 minutes. The equalizer for Oregon was in the 51st minute; however, Aguilera responded with another goal just one minute later when she dribbled through the defense and around the keeper for her sixth goal of the season.
The Ducks did not back away just yet, as they would level the score yet again to make it 2-2 in the 54th minute. Arizona forged on and created a scoring chance in the 57th minute with another knockout punch from Aguilera and Talley. Aguilera flew down the sideline to track down a pass to find Talley in the box. The score was the team’s third goal and first of the night for Talley.
“I’m just happy [Aguilera] made the run because I busted my butt,” Talley joked after scoring the goal. “I couldn’t even high five her after because I was so gassed.”
The Wildcats poured it all out in the final 30 minutes, with two more goals coming from Talley and sophomore Iliana Hocking.
Hocking cleaned up a deflected pass that rolled toward the top of the box and slotted in a beautiful shot into the top left corner. Talley scored one more in the 86th minute to cap off the five-goal performance and give Arizona its ninth win of the season.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be tight,” Head Coach Tony Amato said after the game. “Every game is going to be a tough battle, but I was proud of how the team kept responding every single time and I thought we did a lot of good things that we can build off of moving forward.”
Arizona will conclude the weekend by facing Oregon State at home on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Follow Jacob Mennuti on Twitter
