By
Audrey DeAnda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Utah and Pittsburgh travel to Tucson
After being swept by Tennessee and Vanderbilt last weekend, UA soccer head coach Cathy Klein was baffled.
"Never before have I seen so much talent in practice that didn't translate to a game," Klein said. "I continue to be baffled by the combination of what I see in talent, yet the inability to dominate."
Klein was impressed by UA goalie Shannon Monti's performance in the net, despite the weekend losses.
"She is a rock solid No. 1 goalkeeper, she did her job," Klein said. "We did not do our job in front of her."
Sophomore defender Naomi Chu said the team's mindset will be the key to victory this weekend.
"We need to have the warrior mentality, physically and mentally and be on the same page together," she said
The Wildcats will make their home debut Friday against Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. The Panthers stand at 1-3-0 overall and are on a three-game losing streak after being shut out by Penn State and Bucknell last weekend.
Sophomore defender Jacqueline Fix is Pittsburgh's leading scorer with two goals.
Arizona will play Utah on Sunday at noon. The Utes are 1-2-1 overall after losing to Washington State last weekend.
Sophomore midfielder Katie Tate is Utah's top scorer with four goals and two assists for the season.
Coming off a weekend in which the Wildcats were dominated, Klein said the team had a brutally strenuous week of practice to prepare for this weekend.
"I think we're still looking to develop the mentality of winning, the mentality of dominating an opponent and just learning what it takes to be an elite athlete," Klein said. "The game is the exam of whether we learned how to win."
But with the Wildcats' opening two losses and returning just seven starters from a 7-10-2 team last year, the mentality to win is going to take time.
"It's going to be one day, one practice at a time until we all turn this together," Klein said. "It's not going to be me who turns it or one player who turns it. It's going to be 28 girls and five staff members who turn this thing around. It's going to be a slow gradual process."
Junior midfielder Twila Kaufman said the team has a different type of motivation coming off the showdown in Tennessee.
"Our motivation is coming from a different direction," she said. "We're going back to the very basic principals of soccer, in other words we have to win the fight before we win the game."
It may take awhile for the team to gel, but Arizona is hoping the games against Pittsburgh and Utah will become the building blocks for a successful season.
"It's a process, it's going to be a journey," Klein said. "The light is we have talent and good kids now but it is definitely going to be hard work and determination to get us over what has taken six years to build."
Both games this weekend will be played at Murphy Stadium.
