The Arizona soccer team is set to host the Washington State Cougars on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. The match comes after the Wildcats’ return from a challenging two-game road trip in California, where they faced the University of California Berkeley and Stanford University, resulting in losses for Arizona.
In both contests, the Wildcats were unable to find the back of the net, suffering a 0-2 defeat against UC Berkeley and a 0-3 loss to Stanford. Their scoring struggles and defensive breakdowns were evident throughout these matches.
The last time Arizona and WSU faced one another it resulted in a (0-0) ball game.
One key player to keep an eye on for the Cougars is senior Margie Detrizio, who hails from Chandler, Arizona. Detrizio leads her team in scoring, netting four goals already this season. Notably, she earned the title of All-Pac-12 Second Team last season and has continued to perform at a high level.
This game will be the Cougars’ first road trip of the season.
Todd Shulenberger, Washington State’s head coach, has an impressive coaching tenure with the Cougars, having led the team for nine seasons. With 96 wins under his belt, he holds the school’s all-time winning record.
In the goalkeeping department, the Cougars rely on the talents of junior Nadia Cooper, who is from Houston, Texas. Cooper has established herself as a formidable presence between the posts and ranks fifth in the school’s history in terms of winning percentage.
Arizona will need to focus on precision in their offensive efforts, with Nicole Dallin, Sami Baytosh and Megan Chelf leading the charge in this area for the Wildcats.
Both teams find themselves on losing streaks, with Arizona dropping their last two matches and WSU facing defeats against Stanford (0-1), USC (1-2) and UCLA (0-2) in their recent outings.
If Arizona hopes to get back into the win column and claim its second conference win of the season they will need to tighten up defensively and create scoring opportunities for their top players.
For those unable to attend the match in person, the game will be available for live streaming on the Pac-12 Network.
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