What was once thought to be a season of "no excuses" for the Arizona soccer team is slowly developing into a season of unfulfilled expectations.

Arizona, in its third year as a Division I program, once said it had nothing to fall back on this season. After all, the Wildcats brought in their first substantial recruiting class and have the added experience of veteran players.

However, the Wildcats (5-9 overall, 0-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference) are now starting to realize they are still in the building stages and have started to attribute their high and low streaks of the season to the their youth.

"It's really frustrating," freshman forward Megan Canaday said. "But we have to be realistic with our expectations because we're only a third-year program."

The Wildcats have dropped three of their last four games, most recently a 4-2 loss against Arizona State, in its first year as a Division I program, on Tuesday.

"We have really been playing inconsistently," UA head coach Lisa Fraser said. "We're just very young and it shows in our play."

Arizona is hoping the anger resulting from the Arizona State loss lights a fire for a much-needed victory over Southern Cal tonight at Wildcat Soccer Field. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

"We're mad and we want to play a lot better this game," Canaday said. "We had a lot of scoring chances in the ASU game that we didn't capitalize on."

Arizona has come out slowly of late, scoring only one goal in the first half during its past four games.

"It takes all 11 players on the field to be focused and sometimes that doesn't happen," Canaday said. "When we do have all 11 players ready to play, we play awesome."

The Trojans (9-4, 2-2) have a three-game winning streak, their most recent game a 2-1 victory over California-Irvine last Sunday.

"They've got strong forwards and it will be a challenge for us not to let them get a lot of shots off," Fraser said.

Arizona's career record against Southern Cal is 1-1, with the Trojans winning the last contest 3-2 last season.

Arizona's captain, senior forward Christine Keeley, is the Wildcats' scoring leader with six goals.

The Wildcats, who are still in search of their first Pac-10 victory, are one win away from tying the school record for single-season victories.

"Southern Cal is a good team," Canaday said, "but if everyone comes out hard they are definitely beatable."

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