Thursday October 18, 2001

Wildcats face Oregon schools this weekend

After concluding an unsuccessful six-game road trip that resulted in six defeats and four shutouts, the Arizona soccer team will open its Pacific 10 Conference home season against Oregon and Oregon State this weekend.

The Wildcats (3-7-1 overall, 0-2 Pac-10) face an Oregon team tomorrow night that - like Arizona - has had difficulty winning this season.

Oregon dropped to 0-2-0 in the Pac-10 after losing to No. 17 California and No. 9 Stanford last weekend.

Despite the Ducks' recent losses, UO is expected to have the advantage over the Wildcats.

"I don't think there's any easy game in the Pac-10, and I think that we are always the underdog," head coach Cathy Klein said. "Oregon and Oregon State are both teams that are better than us, but that doesn't mean we won't compete. We have to act under pressure."

The Wildcats have never beaten the Ducks, as OU holds a 3-0-1 advantage.

The Beavers, who UA will take on Sunday afternoon, are in the midst of a three-game losing streak but hold an advantage over Arizona in their series history, 3-2-1.

The two teams tied 1-1 in last year's match.

Arizona dropped to 0-2-0 in the Pac-10 after it suffered a weekend shutout to UCLA and USC this past weekend.

The No. 2 Bruins and Trojans both defeated the Wildcats 2-0 on their home fields.

However, Arizona's match against UCLA is a vast improvement compared to last year, when the Bruins blew by the Wildcats 8-0, handing UA its worse loss in the program's history.

"Playing UCLA, granted we lost, but it was only 2-0 and that's something we can be proud of," senior goalkeeper Shannon Monti said. "That was definitely a positive step forward for us."

Hampered by injuries - the Wildcats recently lost senior midfielder/defender Erin Nelson to an ankle injury - and inexperience, Arizona will try to get back into the win column after disappointing in recent weeks.

"We're a team and its aggravating (to lose) overall," Monti said. "It's a total team sport, and it's frustrating for everyone, not because we lost but we could have played better and more to our potential."

The Wildcats kick off at 7 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Both matches will take place at UA's Murphey Stadium.