|
DANIEL BERDANER/Arizona Daily Wildcat
The UA men's club soccer team dominated its weekend opponents.
|
|
By Christopher Wuensch
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday October 21, 2002
The Arizona men's soccer team continued its season- long dominance with a weekend series sweep that earned the Wildcats an invitation to the regional tournament.
With its two victories in this weekend's Arizona sub-regional tournament over Embry Riddle and Arizona State, UA solidified its birth in the regional tournament. The dominating style of play that the Wildcats have adopted has earned them a 12-0 record and a possible No. 1 ranking in the upcoming Las Vegas regional.
"The style of play we perform at has become almost a mentality that every time we take the field we are going to be physical, hit hard and make you run with us," head coach David Hunter said. "We rely on lots of pressure early, forcing our opponent into fatal mistakes. We have been doing that for 10 years now."
In the Saturday morning game, Arizona got off to a quick start by scoring early. Captain Will Yokubaitus tallied one goal as Arizona prevailed 4-1.
That evening, Arizona was equally as dominant as it cruised by ASU 3-0. Yokubaitus added another goal in the nightcap.
"We played solid, from our starting line right down through our bench. We completely dominated," forward Yokubaitus said. "Our defense was solid and our keeper made some great saves against ASU."
Arizona's defense is bolstered by defensive marking-back Kvar Black.
"Black's job was to blanket their number-one strike and he did an outstanding job," Hunter said.
The Wildcats are now setting their sights on the regional tournament. The 12-team tournament is expected to feature Weber State, University of San Diego, Washington, ASU and California Santa Barbara, among others.
"Our main goal is to see and beat Weber State," Hunter said.
According to Hunter, the next two weeks will be used to train for the tournament and to rest up his starters.
"A scrimmage may be arranged against a local team ÷ something just to keep our skills sharp," Hunter said. "Right now we feel we have a full head of steam going into the tournament. If I was those other teams, I wouldn't want to play Arizona right now."
The regional tournament in Las Vegas will be held Nov.1 to Nov. 3.