Senior leads lacrosse team to home finale win

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior Sarah Schier (left) and senior Andrea Bozzolo battle against a UCLA player Saturday at Wildcat field. The women's lacrosse team remains undefeated after crushing the Bruins 17-2.

So she decided to go out in style, even if she didn't realize it right away.

Bozzolo scored nine goals in Arizona's 17-2 obliteration of UCLA.

"I couldn't even tell it was nine goals," Bozzolo said. "It's a total surprise."

UCLA coach Margaret Harkins said Bozzolo's scoring outburst "is not unusual in lacrosse.

"I think in her case, experience pays off," Harkins said.

UA coach Josh Dreiband said he had been planning to help get Bozzolo into the scoring column.

"That was one of my goals," he said. "Andrea has been one of the leaders all year in assists, and I wanted her to get more into scoring goals."

Arizona (9-0) jumped out to a 10-2 halftime lead and never looked back, keeping UCLA (1-4) on defense for most of the game.

Sarah Schier scored three goals and senior Jessica Deal added a pair in the lopsided win.

The Wildcats now await the results of the first round of the playoffs, which are set for this weekend. Arizona, being the No. 1 seed in the Western Women's Lacrosse League's Southern Division, gets a first round bye and a second round matchup at home with the lowest-seeded team to survive the first round.

"Being a first seed we're pretty confident," Bozzolo said. "The problem is we beat so many teams by a lot, there will be much more of a challenge in the tournament, especially from the Northern teams."

Arizona did not play any of the teams in the WWLL's Northern Division during the regular season.

At the end of Saturday's game, though, Bozzolo and the other Wildcat seniors weren't thinking about the playoffs, but about all the years they had spent together.

"As a team we all work hard together every week. We're all close friends and it was great to end our careers like this," Bozzolo said.