Previous poor effort fuels soccer team for outing vs. BYU

Arizona soccer head coach Dan Tobias criticized his team’s lackluster efforts in its 1-0 loss to San Diego State on Sunday. During team discussions he later told them if “”the individuals weren’t willing to do the work, he couldn’t coach”” them, said defender Claire Bodiya.

Tobias “”doesn’t like to coach effort,”” she said. “”We have to figure it out ourselves if we want to do well. We should have easily beat (San Diego State), but it’s an effort thing.””

Arizona (5-5-0) has a chance to redeem itself tomorrow when the Wildcats host No. 16 Brigham Young (8-0-2) at 7 p.m. at Murphey Stadium.

First, however, the team must figure out how to change its approach from Sunday’s disappointing performance.

“”I didn’t have to tell the team much,”” Tobias said. “”We watched the film, (the team) understood it, we covered a few points and the difference was really just the willingness to put in effort.””

Likely what the team saw was one of its worst games in terms of offensive production. Arizona attempted six shots, with only four finding the target, the team’s lowest totals at home this season.

The Wildcats evidently saw what they needed to see, as many of the players felt Wednesday’s practice showed strides in the right direction.

Tobias took notice as well and highlighted forward London King for being one of the loudest and hardest-working players on the field in his post-practice speech.

“”Practice was really good,”” Bodiya said. “”We did some function work and got a lot done. I think everyone is ready for the rest of the week, which is good because we really need to win.””

Time is running out for the Wildcats to gain some momentum before their grueling Pacific 10 Conference schedule begins next week. The conference currently contains three teams ranked in the top 10 and five teams in the top 30, including No. 1 Stanford.

Getting a win against BYU “”is very important, because it keeps the momentum going and flowing,”” King said. “”If you’re playing good, it continues to the next weekend, and that’s important because we want to do well in the Pac-10.””

-Bobby Stover

M-tennis Christen’s streak ends in second round

Arizona men’s tennis senior Claudio Christen squeezed out one more win before illness ended his impressive run at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Okla.

In first-round qualifying, Christen defeated No. 45 seed Andy Juc of Furman 6-3, 6-1 yesterday morning. A lingering sickness couldn’t hold back Christen, as confidence and will power launched him into second- round play.

“”In four days of tennis in a tournament, you’re going to find your rhythm,”” said UA head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”He had nice rhythm out there.””

Illness and lack of energy caught up to Christen later in the afternoon, as he was forced to retire his second-round match to No. 12 seed Adam Holmstrom of Denver after the first set.

Arizona’s success in the tournament as a team was exactly what the doctor ordered, Berkowitz said – Christen and teammates gained a sense of confidence and encouragement after pulling off numerous upsets throughout the tournament.

-Bryan Roy

CC looks at ASU Invite as ‘training’

When the Arizona cross country teams travel to Tempe tomorrow to compete in the ASU Invitational, the competition will be less competitive than last weekend at Stanford.

“”It’s not a terribly important meet,”” admitted UA head coach James Li. “”There won’t be too many teams competing. (This meet) is gonna be used more for training purposes.””

The cross country teams have shown great improvement during the season. The women’s team has been led by juniors Irine Lagat and Marissa Urban and freshman Maggie Callahan. In every meet in which all three competed, they have finished no more than seven places apart.

Lagat, the team’s No. 1 runner, hopes this
meet can yield similar results to previous meets, with one exception.

“”I want to beat ASU,”” she said. “”They beat us (in Tucson), and we want to return the favor.””

That could prove to be a challenge, considering the ASU women are ranked No. 6 nationally. But Lagat has other goals as well.

“”I’m going to focus more on training and competing,”” she said. “”I’m just working on trying to stay consistent and try to hold onto a fast pace.””

The men’s squad will be looking to improve, as it has throughout the entire season.

“”We’re just trying to have a pretty good training day,”” junior Lou Maturo said. “”We want to try to work on our speed and try to bring our time down as a group.””

Maturo said the team is in no position to take this meet lightly. As a young team, it needs to take the most out of every meet and constantly better itself, he said.

Freshman Victor Zazueta, a bright spot in an otherwise overcast season, continues to impress.

“”He’s been training really well,”” Maturo said, “”and he ran the race of his life last week.””

Coach Li is also pleased with Zazueta’s performance and expects him – and the team – to show continual progress.

“”We are just going to run the race from a good tactical point of view,”” Li said.

-Michael Fitzpatrick