KEVIN KLAUS

Freshman forward Cassie Daniels collides with an Oregon State player while attempting a header last weekend at Murphey Field. The Wildcats, riding a two-game winning streak, will take on Washington and Washington State this weekend on the road.

Thursday October 25, 2001

UA soccer hopes for retaliation against Huskies, Cougars

The Arizona soccer team tasted success last weekend with a sweep against Oregon and Oregon State 2-1 on UA's home field.

The Wildcats, now 5-0 at Murphey Stadium, haven't enjoyed the same success on the road.

UA (5-7-1) will test its road mettle with a pair of matches this weekend against Washington and Washington State, with the Huskies tomorrow night.

The Huskies (8-3-1) improved their Pacific 10 Conference record to 2-1-0 by splitting the weekend in the Bay Area.

UW defeated No. 16 California 1-0 Friday night.

Two days later, they were not as successful and suffered a loss to No. 8 Stanford 2-1.

The loss to the Cardinal ended a four-game Huskies' winning streak.

However, if its series match-up against Arizona is an indicator of tomorrow's game, UW holds the advantage over UA.

The Huskies are undefeated in six games against the Wildcats.

In last year's match-up, UW pulled a come-from-behind win to defeat Arizona 2-1.

UA will then take on WSU on Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars (6-5-0, 1-2-0 Pac-10) split the weekend as well against Stanford and Cal.

WSU was shut out 2-0 by the Cardinal but retaliated with a win over the Golden Bears 2-0.

The Cougars hold a 4-1-1 series lead over the Wildcats and shut out Arizona 4-0 last season.

Despite its losing records to both teams, UA head coach Cathy Klein said her squad is prepared to seek revenge and is confident that the team's effort will put the Wildcats on top.

"Bring it on - that's how we feel," Klein said. "UW is a great team, and WSU killed us last year. But, we're focusing on how we feel at the end and if we gave it everything we had and are proud."

The victories last weekend snapped a six-game losing streak for UA. They were shut out in four of those games.

The sweep also marked the first ever back-to-back wins for UA against Pac-10 opponents.

Lead by freshman midfielder/forward Candice Wilks - who was named the Pac-10 Women's Soccer Player of the Week for her two-goal performance - UA sophomore forward/defender Liz Bartlett said the pair of wins have sparked a new level of confidence in the squad.

"Now that we have that feeling of winning and accomplishing a goal, I think it's going to continue, and we are going to be strong," Bartlett said.