DANIEL BERDANER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman goalie Amanda Martin will be behind the net tonight as the Wildcats kick off the Arizona Tournament. UA shoots for a .500 record when it plays Youngstown State tonight at 7:30 at Murphey Field.

Wildcats to host weekend tourney

There's a reason teams of every sport want home-field advantage when they play.

For only the second time in seven contests, the Arizona women's soccer team (4-3-1) is going to experience playing in Tucson.

On a road trip that saw the Wildcats travel to Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky, the Wildcats went 2-3-1, despite scoring 17 goals and allowing only eight.

"It feels good to play at home," said redshirt freshman Kelly Nelson, who scored five goals in one game last weekend, tying a school record. "We're ready to go and we have our fans at our back."

This weekend, Arizona hosts Idaho State, Saint Louis and Youngstown State for the Arizona Tournament starting today when Saint Louis and Idaho State take the field at 5 p.m., followed shortly by Youngstown State and Arizona at 7:30 p.m.

Arizona is rolling off a weekend that saw them devastate Belmont 10-0 and fall to Kentucky 2-1 in a heartbreaker.

"That score does not reflect how the game was played, and we'll use that to propel us," head coach Cathy Klein said. "Hopefully, to our third tournament win of the year."

The high point of last weekend came when Nelson scored six goals over the course of two games, adding to a previous goal. She now leads the team with 14 points. Back in second with six points is freshman Erin Clewtt with one goal and four assists and freshman Lisa Kosena with two goals and two assists.

Freshman goalkeeper Amanda Martin is looking to start matches number nine and 10 on the season, along with her 51 saves, 1.06 goal-against-average and two shutouts.

Martin and fellow freshman Natalie Juarez have combined for another two shutouts, tying for the most by an Arizona team since 1999.

This is the first time Arizona will meet Youngstown State, and regardless of whom it plays on Sunday, the Wildcats will have never faced them before.

"Don't even bother thinking about that," Klein said. "It's us. We're starting to turn into a good team, that's exactly who we are."

Youngstown State (1-8-0), ironically, is from Youngstown, Ohio, and also comes out of the Horizon League, just like Detroit, who came to the Wildcat Invitational on Aug. 30 but did not play Arizona. The Penguins are in a seven game tale-spin, being outscored 36-3 in those matches. Their lone win came when they demolished a feeble Delaware State team 14-0. Coming off a 1-19 2001 season things can only get better for the Penguins this year, after all it will only take another win.

Numbers-wise the Penguins are the same caliber team that Belmont is.

"Those games are to raise your stats, like what Kelly did last weekend," said senior Naomi Chu. "You try new things because you have more slack, mistakes don't hurt you." (pull quote?????)

Idaho State (5-4-1) is winless in their last three contests losing to Texas A & M and Gonzaga while tying Idaho. They began their season by going 3-1 in the Big Sky Conference but don't play a conference game again until Oct. 17. They have since gone 2-4-1, beating only Texas Tech and BYU by a combined score of 3-0. Head coach Gordon Henderson has been with the Bengals for five seasons and in that time posted a 37-39-9 standing.

Saint Louis (7-3-0) is riding high in recent weeks, winning three of their last four games and out scoring their opponents10-0 in the three wins. The solitary loss in that span came on Sept. 22 against UAB on the road. The recent buzz coming from the Billikens is their junior defender Anny Lucier was named to the Soccer America Team of the Week on Wednesday, two days after being named Conference USA player of the week. Lucier moved only this year from a offensive to a defensive role. Billiken head coach Tim Champion has been there for seven seasons and holds a 72-44-13 mark.

With the stalwart defense of the Billikens you would think the Wildcats offense would be worried, but no, "It won't be a problem," said Clewett. "We're bringing the energy out of the Kentucky game."

All games will be played at Murphey Stadium, located on Plumer Avenue and 15th Street.