By
Audrey DeAnda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Freshmen shine in 3-2 loss to BYU
It was a tale of two halves for the Arizona soccer team Saturday against BYU.
After taking a 2-1 lead into the second half following goals from freshmen Liz Bartlett and Sierra Cristiano, the Wildcats (3-13-2 overall) eventually fell 3-2 to the 13th-ranked Cougars.
BYU (16-3-1) came out strong in the second half and spent most of the half on UA's side of the field.
UA junior midfielder Kate Winship said BYU was the most physical team the Wildcats have played all season.
"I think I got a few offensive runs, but most of the game I was covering my man - I was a defender," Winship said. "I'm outside midfielder and I was playing defense the entire game."
BYU's offensive pressure paid off for the Cougars when senior midfielder Sara Reading scored in the 54th and 60th minutes of the match to cap off the victory for the Cougars.
BYU took the lead early in the game when sophomore midfielder Jeni Willardson scored in the eighth minute.
But Cristiano and Bartlett would respond before the half was over.
Bartlett weaved through the Cougar defense and was one-on-one with the goal when she was fouled from behind.
Cristiano took the penalty kick for the Wildcats and scored to tie the game at one in 23rd minute.
"Sierra is our most improved player, and I think Liz Bartlett is truly an elite player," UA head coach Cathy Klein said. "Liz has come so far. I put her forward, in the back and in the midfield today. You can't ask a young freshman player to do anything more than that so I' m very pleased with her."
Six minutes later, Bartlett capitalized off a BYU player's misdirected header.
Bartlett chipped the ball over Cougar goalie Jennifer Waldron to put the Wildcats ahead, 2-1.
"All I saw was the ball coming through the air and I just remember Cathy yelling get whatever you can on the ball," Bartlett said. "I just wanted to get something on it to either deflect it, put it in the goal or at least get it back to a scoring position."
The Wildcats had an offensive blow in the 32nd minute when Bartlett was moved to defender when senior Ann Giallonardo sprained her ankle.
"I put her in the back when Ann got injured because that's the fastest way to settle the backs down," Klein said. "Liz can play anywhere at an elite level. It was the quickest fix until we could make the transition to move her back up front. We are a much better team when Liz is in the front line, though she could start in the back every game."
Though UA was outshot, 32-4, Klein was still pleased with the Wildcats' performance.
"(Only getting four shots) is totally acceptable because BYU is that good," Klein said. "We scored two goals from four shots, against the 13th-ranked team in the country. The way I figure, that's 50 percent. If we scored 50 percent in other games we would have won a heck of a lot more games."
UA junior goalkeeper Shannon Monti played the first half racking six saves. Senior Inger Airheart gook over at half and got five.
