Miller's 2 goals move UA to 2-0 in Pac-10
After setting records for wins and shutouts in a season - both before conference play even started - about the only thing the UA soccer team hadn't accomplished this season was to defeat a ranked opponent.
Check that one off the list too.
Junior midfielder Mallory Miller scored two goals in the second half en route to a 3-1 Arizona victory over No. 4 Washington, giving the Wildcats (11-2 overall) a 2-0 start in the Pacific 10 Conference.
The Huskies (9-2-1, 0-1-1, Pac 10) controlled the first portion of the first half, spending much of the time in the Wildcats' defensive third of the field. They took seven shots - most within the first 15 minutes. Their lone goal of the game came in the 39th minute by Katy Dowling off an assist by Colby Branham.
The Wildcats took just two shots on goal in the first half, their best opportunity coming when forward Candice Wilks broke free in the 18th minute for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper only to come up empty and send Arizona into the half down 1-0.
"All I said (at halftime) was: We just have to work harder. I felt like - and it wasn't just me - our staff felt like, and the team felt like, they worked harder than us in the first half," said head coach Dan Tobias. "The main thing we stressed was (that) we have to work harder. Together. We can't have everyone on 11 independent pages."
Tobias claims his speech was nothing special, but it seemed to do the trick. It took 53 seconds in the second half for Miller and company to jump to the same page. Miller slipped in behind the Washington defense and received a pass from 15 yards out for the score. Midfielder Jennifer Klein and Wilks got assists.
"It shouldn't take a goal to get us going. We come out prepared, but we're not all there," said senior defender Lindsey Peeples of the team's first-half play. "The second half we just see that we can do this. ... We start just taking it to these teams. I don't know. We just get a surge of energy for some reason in the second half."
Miller struck again in the 73rd minute. On a deep throw-in to the edge of the box, Wilks put her head on the ball first, sending it across the goal. Miller put her head on it to score the game-winning goal.
"We locked them in there, played our game possessing the ball. Overall, we got our chances, and I happened to be on the end of those," Miller said.
The insurance goal came from forward Kamaya Damwijk in the 88th minute, off an assist from Wilks, who got the assist for all three goals.
The Huskies were never able to get started offensively in the second half. Led by Peeples, the UA defense held the Huskies to three shots in the second half. Freshman goalkeeper McCall Smith made three saves on the day.
Prior to yesterday, the Wildcats were 0-2 against ranked opponents - their only two losses of the season. They lost 2-0 to then No. 16 West Virginia on Sept. 10, and fell 1-0 to then No. 25 Pepperdine on Oct. 1 at home.
"I think the other two (games), we came in having their ranking in the back of our head. We came out here, and we kind of were intimidated the first few minutes," Miller said. "They got their goal, but we didn't really crumble. We came out second half, and we knew what we had to do."
On Friday night, the Wildcats defeated Tobias' former team, Washington State (5-5-2, 0-2) 3-1. Tobias coached for five seasons at WSU before coming to the UA in 2003.
The Wildcats spent much of the first half in the face of the Cougar defense, but with nothing to show for it. They took six shots on goal and had eight corner kicks, but it was WSU who scored first. Alix Rustrum capitalized in the 42nd minute after the Wildcats were unable to clear a ball out of the box.
Klein gave the Wildcats the momentum going into halftime by scoring with 43 seconds remaining in the half. Midfielder Althea Jones and Damwijk notched assists.
Damwijk scored on a loose ball in the box in the 50th minute for the game-winning goal. In the 63rd minute, Wilks collected a pass from Klein to score the third goal of the game. Miller also got credit for an assist.
In the Washington game, defender Kaity Heath and midfielder Amanda Urtuzuastegui both left the game with ankle injuries. Both are listed as day-to-day, according to Tobias.