The Arizona soccer team’s season from hell is finally over. After Friday’s 2-1 loss to Arizona State, the Wildcats end the year with 1-16-2 overall record, its worst in 17 years.

“I’m proud of the way the team has handled the season in working hard and the personality they’ve played with throughout the season, but I’m disappointed with the results,” head coach Lisa Oyen said. “It’s a little redundant that after every game we play hard, we have chances and we don’t put them away.”

Prior to the game, the team’s lone senior, goalkeeper Ashley Jett was honored for her contributions to the team over the last four years. Undergraduate volunteer assistant coach Brittany Cole and team manager Collin Robinson were honored as well.

“I’m proud of my team,” Jett said, “I’m sad it’s over but it’s a long journey and it has to come to an end at some point.”

Sophomore Jazmin Ponce had the Wildcat’s lone goal on the day, her team-leading second goal of the season.

“I’m kinda sad that the way we lost so many games and didn’t show who we are,” Ponce said. “Now people are gonna talk about us and say, ‘Oh, they are not good enough because they lost so many games’.”

— Zack Rosenblatt

Hansen, Wildcats Defeat Badgers, Pull Out Third Win in a Row

As head coach Eric Hansen shook hands with Wisconsin after the men’s and women’s swim team took home their third straight victory, the look on his face was different than that of the meets against UNLV and Kansas.

Wisconsin is Hansen’s former team, and according to him, the Arizona men winning 166-93 and the women winning 151.5-92.5 at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center on Friday is something special.

“It for sure means more than a regular meet,” said Hansen, who’s in his first year coaching the Wildcats. “I’ve got personal relationships with kids on that team and staff. This was fun. It meant a lot to me.”

“I have a lot of respect for them, and I know those kids are going to bring their best, and our group brought their best too, and whenever you do that, its fun to watch.”

The Wildcats again swept the relays, winning both the men’ and women’s 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle. Arizona currently holds top-10 times nationally in those events and holds the best time in America in the men’s 200-medley relay.

“I just like to watch our relays tear it up,” senior Austen Thompson said. “I’m pretty sure both our 200 medley and 200 free relays had to have been some of the fastest times in the country. Watching some people really race tough was a good thing to see.”

Individually, the Wildcats were also strong. Senior Alyssa Anderson and sophomores Margo Geer and Sarah Denninghoff all won multiple races for the women. Kevin Cordes, a freshman, and senior Kelley Wyman won multiple races for the men, something that Hansen would like to continue.

“I thought overall it was good but we’ve got a few things that kind of caught up to us,” Hansen said. “Consistency is rewarded, and a lack of consistency will catch up to you. I saw a lot of consistency pay off, but I saw some things that we can work on.”

— Cameron Moon

Hockey team rolls again

The Arizona hockey team swept its second straight ACHA Division II opponent, winning 12-0 Friday and 10-2 Saturday at the Tucson Convention Center against the Weber State Wildcats.

“When you are better than a team like that, it’s hard (to play against them),” Hogan said. “We beat them about as bad as you can beat them.”

Arizona has now won four straight and five of its last six. However, the two goals they conceded at the end of the second period Saturday ended a 237 minute shutout streak.

Weber State scored because the team was too comfortable with its lead and too caught up in the physicality happening on the ice, assistant captain Geordy Weed said.

“It was definitely a hurtful goal,” he added.

The UA had been on a 47-0 run during their shutout stretch.

Assistant captain Brady Lefferts began the scoring barrage Friday night, getting a goal less than two minutes into the game. After that, the UA never relented. They scored eight more in the period, including three goals within 56 seconds, to jump out to 9-0 on Weber State.

“Were doing everything we were supposed to and we were finishing all of our chances,” forward Blake Richards said, who had two goals and two assists on the night.

After the high scoring first period, the UA controlled the puck for the remainder of the game. Weber State had very few chances against freshman goalkeeper Bob Schultz who made his collegiate debut. One of Weber State few chances came when they were awarded a penalty shot, yet Shultz comfortably saved it, maintaining the shutout streak.

“I didn’t get that many shots … but when I did, I did what I had to do,” Shultz said.

Lefferts and forward Michael Ferreira both also had two goals on the night, as Arizona dominated the game from start to finish.

“A shutout isn’t a goalie stat, it’s a team stat,” Shultz said. “The team played great in front of me.”

Saturday wasn’t quite as comfortable for Arizona as Weber State showed a little more life. However, Richards finally put one in the net near the 11-minute mark of the first period, and after that the game was all but over.

— Kyle Johnson

End to fall season, promising spring for w-tennis

In its final tournament of the fall season, the Arizona women’s tennis team fell just short of grabbing titles in singles and doubles play in the Memphis Invitational.

In the opening matches of the tournament, four of the Wildcats posted wins in singles play, but it was sophomore Kim Stubbe that fought all the way to the finals.

“This was a really strong event and I felt our girls hung in there very well,” head coach Vicky Maes said. “Kim and Tash were a great team together, especially since they hadn’t partnered up before.”

Stubbe defeated Memphis’ Alyssa Hibberd in the quarterfinals and Tulsa’s Anastasia Erofeeva, 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals.

By the finals, Maes said Stubbe ran out of juice after competing in both the semifinals and finals of doubles play prior to this singles match. Stubbe lost to Memphis’ Courtney Collins, 7-5, 6-1.

Meanwhile, in doubles play, senior Natasha Marks joined Stubbe to advance to the finals. However, they fell short to a team from Alabama 4-8.

“On an individual level, Kim’s road to the finals in both singles and doubles events was special, simply because she only recently recovered from injury and this was her first string of matches since early summer,” Maes said.

— Iman Hamdan