TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona women's soccer dropped their Pac-12 season opener, 2-1, to No. 11 UCLA Sunday at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium.
Arizona's offense (5-2-3) recorded eight shots in the match with senior Jazmin Ponce pacing the squad with two. Sophomore Hannah Wong scored the Wildcats' lone goal of the match in the 37th minute off a pass from Ponce to cut the Bruins lead, 2-1, heading in to the second half.
No. 11 UCLA (9-1) came out to a quick 1-0 lead in the fifth minute of match after Taylor Smith recorded her second goal of the season, crediting Ally Courtnall with the assist. The Bruins outshot the Wildcats, 18-8, with Sam Mewis leading UCLA with four.
“I thought our girls did a great job,” head coach Tony Amato said. “UCLA is the team that is picked to win the conference and we showed that we can play at that level. Obviously, they are a great team and created two goals but we were able to create chances as well. We gave them a great game today but we don't like losing and we want to fix the issues that we had and make sure we get better this week.”
In the net, goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman recorded a total of seven saves while Bruin goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland recorded two saves.
Up next, the Wildcats will travel to California to take on No. 6 Stanford on Fri. Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. and California on Sun. Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. The match vs. Stanford will air live on the Pac-12 Networks.
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter @ArizonaWSoccer, at facebook.com/ArizonaWSoccer or visit ArizonaWildcats.com.
