The good news: Arizona’s soccer team ended its 482-minute scoring drought this weekend.
The bad news: The Wildcats ended their regular season with a pair of losses to Washington State 1-0 in Pullman, Wash. yesterday and Washington 3-2 in overtime in Seattle on Friday.
“”I feel that we have been creating good chances to score lately,”” UA head coach Dan Tobias said, “”but we haven’t been following through, so it was not a surprise to me that we scored two very nice and well-earned goals on Friday.””
The scoreless streak was ended on Friday by a goal off the foot of freshman forward Jasmine Namdar, who had three of Arizona’s (8-10-2, 1-6-2 Pacific 10 Conference) six shots against the Huskies (7-12-1, 2-6-1), and one of the three shots on goal.
“”Friday’s game was pretty tough,”” Tobias said. “”We showed good character. We scored a really nice goal, a nice little three-person combination, (sophomore forward) Gianna DeSaverio to (freshman midfielder) Jacqueline Broussard to Jasmine Namdar.””
This highly-anticipated goal tied up the game after UW junior forward Katy Dowling netted the first goal of the game 6:19 into the contest. The goal was assisted by senior forward Shannon Dillon.
Arizona took the lead in the 56th minute, as redshirt freshman midfielder Christina Hughes fed the ball to sophomore forward London King, who spun and scored from inside the box.
“”After London’s goal, we were up 2-1 and felt like we were pretty much in charge of the game,”” Tobias said.
But this feeling would cease when UW sophomore midfielder Jenna Robison tied the score with a goal on the rebound of her penalty kick at the 73:07 mark.
“”The ironic thing about it is that (UA sophomore goalie) Chelsea (McIntyre made) the save,”” Tobias said, “”but the ball was hit really well and she couldn’t hold onto it. It came right back out to the shooter, and she ended up scoring.””
Sophomore forward Melissa Beal sealed the deal for Washington, who now leads the all time series 9-3-0, by scoring in overtime.
Only one goal was scored in yesterday’s loss to Washington State (9-7-4, 4-3-2).
Junior defender Allison Scurich found the back of the net eight minutes into the game. She headed the ball in off a corner kick by junior midfielder Anna Miller.
DeSaverio, who finished the season with a team-high six goals, led the attack for Arizona with four of the 11 shots. The Wildcats had five shots on goal.
Meanwhile, the Cougars notched 12 shots, six on goal.
“”We had a number of chances to score,”” Tobias said. “”We just couldn’t find the equalizer.””
The numbers from each goalie were also evenly matched.
McIntyre and WSU junior Brynn Bemis each had five saves in the game. This put McIntyre’s save total at 109 for the season, the most in the Pac-10.
The selection of teams to play in the NCAA College Cup occurs today, but due to Arizona’s record, Tobias said his squad will not be in consideration.