The UA soccer team ended its season in Washington this weekend with a split, beating Washington State, 2-1 on Friday and falling to Washington, 3-0 yesterday.

Although the Wildcats (6-11-2, 2-6-1 Pacific 10 Conference) were outshot by the Cougars (6-10-2, 2-4-2), 19-14 Friday, Arizona junior forward Candice Wilks proved to be the difference.

Wilks scored her first goal at 37:32 when freshman and fellow forward Lauren Winters fed her the ball from the left side. It was the seventh goal of the season for Wilks, and it gave the Wildcats a 1-0 edge at halftime.

On her second goal of the game, Wilks showed why speed is one of her greatest assets. She raced past two Cougar defenders to track down a pass from UA sophomore defender Althea Jones and put a shot past Cougar goalkeeper Sara Leibowitz at 61:22 to give Arizona a 2-0 edge.

Wilks tied a career high with her eighth goal of the season.

"Candice just adds another dimension to our team, and she's such a threat," said first-year UA head coach Dan Tobias.

Tobias, after beating a WSU team that he coached for five seasons, could only call the victory "bittersweet."

The Cougars avoided the shutout with a goal at 73:11 to complete the scoring.

Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Juarez played another strong game in the net for the Wildcats with nine saves.

Losing to No. 13 Washington was not the ending to the season that Arizona would have hoped for, but the Wildcats wouldn't go down without a fight. UW (11-6-3, 4-4-1) outshot the Wildcats 14-9 overall, but the teams were dead even with five shots on goal apiece.

The Wildcats took three shots in the first twelve minutes of the match before the Huskies could even muster a single shot. Unfortunately for Arizona, the Wildcat shots were not hitting the back of the net, but the Huskies' shots were.

Washington's Kim Taylor made her shot count in the 37th minute off a Tina Frimpong assist, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead at the half.

The Huskies got started in a hurry in the second half, scoring in the 50th minute. A cross from the left side from Kelley Schweighart set up Jaime Carstensen for a volley about seven yards out.

UW's final score came with 53 seconds left in the game, as Kim Taylor returned the favor and sent a ball to Frimpong, who scored the pass from about eight yards out.

Juarez had two saves on the day, bringing her season total to 68 on the season. She had all but nine of the Wildcats' 77 saves on the season.

"We hadn't had a Pac-10 road victory in six seasons," Tobias said of his team's two Pac-10 road wins this season. "We think things are making progress and moving in the right direction for UA soccer."

Despite being outscored 33-23 on the year, the Wildcats outshot their opponents, 269-213 ÷ an average of three more shots per game.

"Results-wise, it would have been nice to be on the positive side more often, but we can look back and see we did end the season with the best season for the program ever," Tobias said.