Miller's record-setting performance leads UA
About the only Arizona soccer records that don't have senior midfielder-forward Mallory Miller's name in front of them are for goalkeepers.
Miller doesn't play goalkeeper, so those records may be the only ones she can't touch before her collegiate career wraps up at the end of this season.
Miller scored four goals over the weekend, including her second career hat trick, and notched two assists to give Arizona wins against Oregon and Oregon State in the opening weekend of Pacific 10 Conference play.
After yesterday, Miller holds school records for most goals in a single season (14), most career goals (27), most points in a season (31), most career points (71) and most career assists (17).
Before the season started, Miller already held the record for most assists in a season with nine, set in 2004.
"Words can't even describe ... how well she's doing," said sophomore defender Kaity Heath of Miller. "She's truly helping us win every game.
"Without her, I don't know what we'd do."
Miller picked up a goal and two assists en route to a 3-0 victory over the Beavers (8-4, 1-1 Pac-10) yesterday, avenging the 2-1 loss last season that kept the Wildcats (7-3-2, 2-0) from winning the Pac-10 outright.
Miller scored at the 71:41 mark from the top of the box, putting the game away for the Wildcats after receiving a cross from freshman forward Gianna DeSaverio.
DeSaverio was returning the favor to Miller, who about five minutes earlier chipped a ball that DeSaverio took into the box and used to score her second goal of the season.
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"The funny thing is, after the first two goals, I nudged (assistant coaches) Harold (Warren) and Lisa (Oyen) and said, 'I guess Mal is taking a little break from scoring goals. She's just going to decide to just distribute it a little today and get assists,'" said Arizona head coach Dan Tobias. "Right when I said that, she hits that bullet in the corner and tucked the game away."
After a slow first half against the Beavers, the Wildcats got started quickly in the second when junior midfielder Erin Bevacqua scored 2 1/2 minutes in for her first goal this season.
Bevacqua said the team's play this weekend was one of the more consistent efforts the Wildcats have put together all season.
"There were a lot of different things that were inconsistent, just little things," Bevacqua said of the team's play earlier in the season. "We weren't on top of it.
"It's Pac-10 (play) now, so we know we have to (be)," she said. "You just have to suck it up and do it."
The Wildcats notched their first shutout since Sept. 16, when they defeated Utah 1-0 in overtime.
Arizona won 4-2 over Oregon (8-3-1, 0-2) in a physical game Friday, with Miller scoring three goals for the second time this season.
Miller knocked in the eventual game-winner on a penalty kick at the 68:39 mark. The penalty resulted from Bevacqua getting taken down just inside the box.
The game saw 19 fouls and two yellow cards for the Wildcats and 12 fouls committed by the Ducks.
Heath got her yellow card after retaliating on an Oregon player who fouled her, and Miller got hers after throwing a player to the ground.
Heath picked up her fourth yellow card of the season yesterday. If she gets one more this year, she must serve a one-game suspension.