For the first time this season, the Arizona women’s soccer team didn’t win their match, but they didn’t pick up their first loss either. The Wildcats fought to a 1-1 draw with No. 18 Texas Tech in a game that went into extra time.
The Red Raiders struck first with a goal in the 12th minute when Maddy Crabtree scored off a cross from Gwennie Puente.
In the 31st minute, Texas Tech nearly took a 2-0 lead, but Arizona goalie Lainey Burdett made an incredible save to keep it a one-goal game.
Arizona certainly had its chances to score in the first half, as it was able to create eight shots, but the Red Raiders were ultimately able to keep the Wildcats off the board.
The second half was very similar. Arizona controlled the pace and the ball for most of the half, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Just a minute into the second half, Gabi Stoian had a shot on goal, but Texas Tech goalie Lauren Watson saved the shot with a diving save.
In the 53rd minute, Stoian took another shot that was saved once again. However, Hannah Wong was able to secure the rebound and after creating some space, she fired a shot that appeared was going to tie the game. The ball actually got past the goalie, but a Texas Tech defender stepped in front of the net at the last second and cleared it away.
About 10 minutes later, a Texas Tech defender knocked down an Arizona forward near the edge of penalty box. There was no whistle and Arizona coaches and fans were livid. Assistant coach Paul Nagy was given a red card after voicing his displeasure to the referees.
The Wildcats missed out on a valuable penalty kick, but they continued to put pressure on the Red Raiders’ defense. Arizona had three free kicks in the last ten minutes of the half, but none of them resulted in the game-tying goal.
Arizona’s abundance of chances but inability to finish was becoming the theme of the game.
That is, until the 89th minute. Haley Silverberg lofted the ball into the penalty box from midfield. Stoian was able to control it, create some space and then dished it to Sheaffer Skadsen who skipped it past the goalie for the equalizer.
Skadsen, who usually only plays on the defensive side of the ball, was moved forward to midfield as time ticked down and the Wildcats were getting desperate to score. This was her first time scoring a goal that didn’t come via penalty kick.
“To get a goal in the run of play was kind of unexpected for me. … So obviously I was very excited,” Skadsen said.
With the teams tied at one to end the half, it meant extra time was in store.
In the 5th minute of the first 10-minute extra time period, Cece Bilginer was able to separate from her defender and take a shot towards the bottom right corner of the net. The shot rolled just wide of the goal post.
Aside from Bilginer’s attempt, neither team came close to scoring in extra time and the game concluded as a 1-1 tie.
While head coach Tony Amato says the team’s objective is to win every game, he couldn’t help but be proud of his team’s resilience and ability to come away with a tie against a top-20 team in a game they trailed for 89 minutes.
“We were down a goal really late so it felt like, ‘okay, there’s two minutes left, we have to find a goal or we’re going to lose the game.’ Any time you’re able to reverse that, it feels more like a win than a loss,” Amato said.
Arizona plays Pepperdine Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
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