It was a comeback weekend for the Arizona women’s soccer team.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats did not manage to come away with a win after tying USC on Sunday 1-1 in double overtime and losing to No. 3 UCLA 2-1 on Friday.
Even though the Wildcats lost to the Bruins on Friday, junior forward and midfielder Jazmin Ponce’s second half goal was significant for Arizona as the Wildcats were the first team to score on the UCLA’s goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland.
Rowland played in four and a half matches this season, garnering 16 saves which were all in shutout victories for the Bruins.
“Our team learned a lesson of how we can play and what we are going to see in our conference,” head coach Lisa Oyen said. “I think the team has done a good job of learning lessons, which is a positive thing.”
On Sunday, the physical play of the Pac-12 conference came to a head in the 36th minute of the Wildcats’ match against USC.
“I was happy the team was able to fight back from the one-goal deficit,” Oyen said. “USC did a good job coming in getting the first goal, but we did a good job of staying composed. Obviously a tie is not the outcome we want, but it was a good compromise.”
After an exchange of on-shot goals, USC entered the attacking zone as April Juarez passed the ball to Whitney Pitalo. Gabby Kaufman, Arizona’s goalkeeper, came out to challenge the play and took a shot to the face as the ball slowly inched its way into the back of the net.
Arizona fans shouted in anger that no foul was called, as the Trojans took the 1-0 lead late in the first half.
Arizona’s offensive line outshot USC nine to four, but couldn’t connect with the back of the net.
Kaufman proved herself once again in the 76th minute of the second half as USC’s Katie Johnson took on Kaufman one-on-one.
Kaufman blocked the shot with her foot giving Arizona a defensive charge going into the last 15 minutes of the game. Kaufman recorded a season high of 10 saves against the Trojans.
With just three minutes left in the game, junior midfielder Jessica Culver scored her first goal of the season to tie up the match 1-1, sending it into overtime.
Neither team slowed down on attacks in the two overtimes, but the ball never made it in the back of the net as Arizona ended the weekend with its second tie of the season.
