By
Audrey DeAnda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Washington, WSU dominate UA in Pac-10 home opener
The UA soccer team was swept by the Washington schools this weekend in its Pacific 10 Conference home debut.
Arizona tried to bounce back from a shut out against Washington State Friday, only to lose a heartbreaker against No. 4 Washington yesterday.
Washington scored two goals in the last 15 minutes of the game to squeak by the Wildcats, 2-1.
The defense-dominated game kept both teams scoreless for the first 57 minutes of the game.
A goal by UA junior midfielder Twila Kaufman put Arizona on top about 15 minutes into the second half.
Arizona freshman forward Liz Bartlett earned the assist on the goal when she passed the ball back to Kaufman from the end line to the center of the box.
"We've been practicing that for the last two weeks - getting it to the end line and passing it back across the goal," Kaufman said. "I just happened to be the player who was there today."
UA head coach Cathy Klein said the team played well but made critical mistakes with the game on the line.
"The difference between an elite program - which I think Washington is - and us is mistakes and experience," Klein said. "We played our "A" game and it wasn't enough, but it was pretty close."
Arizona (9-2 overall, 0-3-1 Pac-10) held the lead against the Huskies until the 76th minute of the game.
Washington forward Tami Bennett scored both Husky goals within three minutes of each other to cap off the victory.
Kaufman said the Huskies' two goals were just the luck of the draw.
"We ask our keepers to dive where the player is shooting and for the defender to get a foot on the ball," Kaufman said. "They did that. Both of them did the best that they could do, so it was just a great goal. The second goal was just a matter of winning a ball in the air and the taller girl won it."
The Wildcats were pressured greatly throughout the game and were outshot 29-11 by the Huskies.
UA junior midfielder Tiffany Sabado had the most shots for the UA with five.
Yesterday's game against Washington (13-1-0, 4-0) was a turnaround for the Wildcats after being shut out, 4-0, by Washington State Friday.
WSU senior forward Deka DeWitt scored a hat trick and dominated UA offensively in the match, scoring her first goal just 11 minutes into the game.
WSU sophomore forward Katrina Stroh scored 10 minutes later to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
DeWitt capped off the victory for WSU, scoring in the 69th and 75th minute of the game.
"We had a couple of opportunities early to change the course of the game and we didn't," Klein said.
Klein said the Wildcats were scared throughout the game against the Cougars.
"Clearly (WSU) set us back on our heels and that's part of what we have to rebuild," Klein said. "Nobody puts us back on our heels. They might be better, they might score an early goal, but as long as there's still time on that clock, we're not going down without a fight."
WSU (9-4, 1-2) outshot Arizona, 13-7.
UA freshman forward Liz Bartlett led the Wildcats with two shots against WSU.
UA junior goalkeeper Shannon Monti played all 90 minutes in front of the net, racking up three saves.
With each game, the Wildcats are just trying to take little steps toward winning, said sophomore defender Naomi Chu.
"Cathy was saying Rome wasn't built in a day, meaning we're not going to all of a sudden snap out of this trial and everything end up peachy-keen - it's a process," Chu said.
Klein said the outcome of the weekend games were not as important as the process of rebuilding.
"As the leader, I need to focus on the process rather than the outcome," Klein said. "I don't think our chemistry is poor, I don't think that we gave a poor effort. It's time to focus on what we can do more effectively the next time."
