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By Chris Jackson Arizona Summer Wildcat July 22, 1998 Fifth year could be a charm![[Picture]](11_1_i.gif)
Arizona Summer Wildcat It took the Colorado Rockies three years to make the playoffs. It took the Florida Panthers three years to make the finals. It took the Florida Marlins five years to win it all. And season number five is the one the Arizona women's soccer team will be starting this fall. "I don't know about that," said junior midfielder Krista Bogdan when asked if the Wildcats can pull off a Marlin-like run this year. "We're still kind of getting established." Coming off the best year in school history at 8-11-1, Arizona is looking to become serious contenders in the Pacific 10 Conference for the first time. "There's so much parity in the Pac-10 right now I wouldn't want to try and venture where we're going to wind up," said UA head coach Lisa Fraser. Bogdan said that the Wildcats are at least in the top five in the conference, something she said they "came close to proving last year," when Arizona finished 2-7 for seventh place in the Pac-10. Five years ago the notion of Arizona contending for a Pac-10 title seemed a bit farfetched. The program had just been created by the athletic department to help Arizona further comply with Title IX, an NCAA ruling that dictates a school's need to have a balance between men's and women's sports. Fraser, then the head coach at Washington State, was lured to Tucson in 1994 to start a program from scratch. Her Cougar teams went a combined 52-31-7 in the five years she was there, so Fraser had experience with a winning program. Nonetheless, building the Arizona team from the ground up has proved to be a tough task. Fraser said the most difficult aspect was simply getting and training the players she would need to make the program a success. "The hardest thing is working with kids at this level," she said. "I think it's a big step from high school or club soccer to college. They still have a lot to learn. In high school and on club teams they never had to play all 90 minutes of a game, and a lot of the games they played in they won by four or five goals. Games in college are much, much closer, and it's not something they can learn overnight." After pushing the Cougars to a No. 11 national ranking, Fraser took her lumps with the Wildcats in the team's first three seasons, compiling a 14-35-1 record. Even though the Wildcats finished under .500 last year, Fraser still said there was considerable improvement based on the fact that in many of their defeats the Wildcats actually outshot their opponents. "We have to work on finishing our chances this year," Fraser said, if the Wildcats want to crack .500 for the first time in team history.
 Arizona Summer Wildcat file photo Junior midfielder Krista Bogdan passes the ball to a teammate during a practice last season. Bogdan led the Wildcats in scoring last year with six goals and four assists. Bogdan said that the reason for the team's inability to finish was due to the implementation of a new defensive system last year. "We worked so much on defense I think we had that mental thing, 'Oh, we have to hold them,' and didn't get aggressive enough on offense," she said. Bogdan said it is all about maintaining a "balance" between focusing on offense and defense. "We need that desire on both," she said. "We need to not just get excited that we tied another team or held them, we need to take charge." Fraser said the team has "come a long way" in terms of the quality of its players. "We've had a lot of Arizona players come onto the team," Fraser said. Currently the Wildcats have eight players from in state, all but one of whom are from Tucson. Bogdan is among the Tucson natives playing for Arizona. "I liked the coach and I love the school," Bogdan said, naming her main reasons for coming to the UA. "I wanted to help build a program. It's great to be the underdog all the time." Last year Bogdan scored a team-high 16 points on six goals and four assists. She credits the team's chemistry as the main reason for UA's success last year. "We're all friends off the field," she said. "We're really close and that's how we can play so well together." Still, Bogdan said it is difficult living in the shadow of the other sports teams at Arizona, all but one of which were ranked in the top 25 at some point last year. "The basketball team and softball team are national champs. It's really hard to fit in there with them. We're still such a young team," she said. "Everyone loves them, too. There's no jealousy there, we're happy for them, but it's hard saying we're from the same school and we haven't come close to the level they're at yet." Going into the fall Arizona will have only two seniors and six incoming freshmen, giving the team a younger look than last year. "I'm really excited about our team this year," Fraser said, despite the youth. "Our junior class is very good, our freshman class from last year had a great spring and our seniors are two leaders." Fraser said in addition to the team improving its ability to score there will be a lot of focus on the midfield, which Fraser calls "an unknown" going into the fall. Bogdan is the only midfield starter returning in the fall, but neither that nor the team's youth has her concerned. "From what I saw of our spring season we're going to be good," she said. "We have some experience, we all know how to win, and hopefully the incoming freshmen can pick up on this. Last year's freshmen worked their butts off and it's going to be really competitive again this year for everyone to get playing time." Arizona kicks off its season on Sept. 2 against Grand Canyon at Murphey Stadium.
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