Tucson, Ariz. - The University of Arizona Wildcat soccer team hosted the Nevada Wolfpack as part of Arizona Cats Classic on Friday night. The Wildcats (4-1-1, 0-0) beat Nevada (2-4-1, 0-0) 4-0 thanks to goals from freshman Gabi Stoian (three) and senior Alexandra Doller. Prior to Arizona's match, Arizona State faced New Mexico State but at halftime there was an hour-long delay due to lightning, pushing the Arizona start time back 45 minutes. Then, 17 minutes into the first half, the Arizona match was halted due to lightning for 90 minutes.
“I thought it started off great,” head coach Tony Amato said. “We had a great crowd, lots of energy. The girls came out flying and we scored two quick goals. It looked like it was going to be a great night and then we just lost our way. With the weather delay and the change of all that tempo, after the break I thought they (Nevada) had the better of the next 10-15 minutes.”
Freshman Gabi Stoian, the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, picked up right where she left off, scoring two goals in the first 12:07 of the first half. Her first goal came off a corner kick from Junior Lexe Selman; she trapped the ball and scored just 1:22 into the game. Her second goal came off a pass from Selman as well. Selman was in the middle of the box and found Stoian running on the left wing. Stoian calmly shot the ball towards the right corner of the net, the goalkeeper got a hand on the shot, but it still went in.
After the rain delay, neither team controlled the possession. Both teams had a few scoring opportunities but neither could capitalize. Sophomore Jaden DeGracie had a flip throw-in into the box that senior Alexandra Doller connected on with her head but the Nevada keeper parried it safely away.
“We started off strong,” Stoian said. “After the lightning delay, we slowed down a bit but we dealt with it. We talked about it (the delay) in the locker room, we've been in this position before and we knew we could come back from it. We just gave it our all.”
Arizona had 10 shots in the half and seven were on target. The Wildcats won one corner kick and tallied five fouls. Nevada had five shots; three of those were on target but easily saved by senior goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman. However, Nevada did have one shot drill the crossbar.
Senior Mykaylin Rosenquist made some crucial defensive plays for the Wildcats. But, she also got involved in the attack. The ball came to about midfield on a clearance from Nevada and Rosenquist sent the ball back in and it found the head Doller. Nevada's keeper came off her line and Doller's header sailed right over her and into the net. It was Doller's second goal of the season and Rosenquist's first assist, coming at the 71:03 mark.
“I was trying to clear it to a forward,” Rosenquist said. “I didn't necessarily know she was going to head it like that and score a goal. I was pretty excited about that. I did mean to get it to her, so I'll take the credit (laughs). I've just been concentrating on my kicks a lot; I had a difficult time recently, just mentally. I needed to make sure they were getting where they needed to be and I was able to pull through and we got some scoring chances off of them, which is good. I'll keep it up.”
At the 86:06 mark, Stoian capped off the night with her third goal of the game and sixth of the season. The ball was bouncing around in the box and fell at her feet. She made a quick turn, faced the goal and put the ball above the keeper into the top net for the goal. Her six goals on the season are the most in the Pac-12 this year, excluding today's results from around the country. Her three goals in Friday's match are tied for the third-most goals in a single match in program history.
Junior defender Sheaffer Skadsen was unable to play in the match but freshman Amanda Burke stepped in and was solid throughout the match. The defenders, Burke, Rosenquist, senior Brie DeFelice and goalkeeper Kaufman went the distance for the Wildcats, playing all 90 minutes. The shutout is Kaufman's third on the season and 12th of her career. That is the second-best total in program history.
“We just tried to stay physical back there,” Rosenquist said. “They were a really physical team, I think it was probably their best attribute. We just had to keep up with them and do what we usually do. We handled them fairly well.”
The Wildcats tallied 25 total shots and 14 were on target. The team won one corner kick and was called offside on one occasion. The game was rather physical after the lightning delay; Arizona committed 14 fouls while Nevada committed 12. Nevada also had two athletes assessed yellow cards, Daisha Jones-Oglesby (56:09) and Brianna Bosson (74:41). Nevada tallied eight shots total, three were on target. They won seven corner kicks and were caught offside twice during the match.
“The crowd was unbelievable,” Amato said. “We know we have great support with the University and great support in Tucson. Now that we're having some success on the field, they're coming out to support us. It was unfortunate, we can't control the weather, but we'll have more opportunities to make sure we reward the fans with a good game and the players with full stands.”
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat soccer, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow @ArizonaWSoccer on Twitter.
