KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA's Kelly Nelson fights for a loose ball yesterday at Murphey Stadium. Nelson and the Wildcats lost to Saint Louis, 5-1.

The Arizona soccer team saw both ends of the spectrum when it played host to the Arizona Tournament this weekend.

On Friday night the Wildcats mauled Youngstown State (1-10-0), 7-0, putting them in Sunday's championship game against a proven Saint Louis (9-3-0) team that dispatched Arizona, 5-1.

"We've seen better days," said UA head coach Cathy Klein after Sunday's loss. "We faced some adversity."

The Wildcats (5-4-1) were only outshot 19-17 on Sunday, but the Billikens made more of them count, as 16 of them were on goal compared to only five for Arizona.

It took only nine minutes for the Billikens to take the lead after a dropped free kick by freshman goalkeeper Amanda Martin was put away by St. Louis.

Arizona continued to put offensive pressure on Saint Louis throughout the first half, and it paid off in the 30th minute when freshman Lisa Kosena grounded a shot by the Billiken goalie with an assist from freshman Traci Alder.

"That goal felt pretty good ÷ we were down and we tied it," Kosena said.

Then things started to go bad.

Only two minutes later, SLU took the lead back when a free kick was deflected into the goal by last week's Conference USA player of the week, Billiken defender Anny Lucier.

In the 44th minute the ball bounced over Martin's head and into the net, resulting in two things: the Billikens taking a 3-1 lead into the half and freshman Natalie Juarez taking over the net.

After the half, the Wildcats looked like they had new life, but that was quickly snuffed by SLU when they scored just 51 seconds into the second half.

"I don't think we came together," sophomore defender Lindsey Peeples said. "I know we can do better."

In the 50th minute a yellow card was issued to freshman Courtney Moseley, showing the true frustration on the part of the Wildcats.

"Our intensity dropped and we weren't playing too smart," Kosena said.

Arizona played most of the second half in their own end, as Juarez collected seven saves and allowed two goals.

The Billikens tallied their last goal in the 71st minute when a throw-in was headed into the net to cement a 5-1 SLU win.

"The big thing running through my mind is that this is not the team we are or hope to be," Klein said.

On Friday, Arizona was riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels when they took the field against Youngstown State and cruised to an easy win, 7-0. The Wildcats outshot the Penguins 35-2 on the day. Team scoring leader, redshirt freshman Kelly Nelson (20 points) opened the floodgates in the 23rd minute after she received a pass from Courtney Moseley and sent it to the net from the left side.

Freshman Maggie MacCool knocked in two goals in three minutes: one when freshman Mallory Miller, who had nine shots in the game, had a shot blocked and MacCool gathered the rebound and the other when Kosena set her up through the Penguin defense.

Less than a minute later, freshman Nikki David passed to Alder for her first collegiate goal and a 4-0 halftime lead.

Kosena put another in the back of the net in the 49th minute off a pass from Miller and eight minutes later Nelson struck again with a header off a Peeples assist.

"We looked great," said Peeples. "But I know we can do better."

Junior Lindsey Greenwood stole the ball from a defender in the 61st minute and flamed a shot from the top of the box to seal the victory at 7-0.

Martin and Juarez split the game in the net, playing one half each, but only Juarez recorded a save with one.

Youngstown State lost to Idaho State 4-0 in the third-place game earlier on Sunday.