Soccer team disappointed with weekend performance

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior forward Nikki Jones (4) passes the ball during a practice drill last week at Murphey Stadium. The Wildcats go into this Friday's game against the Denver Pioneers, with a 1-4-1 record.

"Luck was not on our side," senior forward Nikki Jones said. "We just had trouble finishing. We had some good shots, but the ball just wasn't going in. The goalkeepers had some great saves and many of our shots hit the crossbars."

Arizona competed in the James Madison Tournament in Harrisonburg, Va., over the weekend and despite outshooting their opponents, they lost both games.

The Wildcats brought an intense style of play onto the field both Friday and Sunday afternoons, when they faced the Kansas Jayhawks and George Washington Colonials, respectively. But they were unable to capture the results they wanted, assistant coach Bruce Caris said.

"We really played good soccer. We had tremendous possession of the ball throughout the game," he said. "I was pleased with what happened on the field. It was all that we had worked on the week before at practice."

Unfortunately, the game of possession did not lead the Wildcats' ball to the back of the net. They fell short to Kansas 1-0 and to George Washington 2-1 in the consolation game.

"The results were personally hard on me," Jones said. "My job is to score and I was just not getting the job done."

Jones did get assist in the consolation game on sophomore midfielder Brooke McManus' goal.

McManus tied the game with GW at 1-1 in the last six minutes of the first half but the Colonials came back to score in the second half with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

Arizona sophomore goalkeeper Inger Airheart finished the weekend with 13 saves.

"We played very well," she said. "We were facing tougher opponents, East Coast teams of different caliber."

The losses this weekend left the Wildcats with a 1-4-1 record, but the team does not consider the defeats as too much of a setback, players said.

"A lot of Pac-10 teams have been losing and we haven't truly begun our season yet. We keep getting better with every game. And even though our results don't show it, we're still not too far off our target to make it to the tournament," Airheart said.

Caris echoed her thoughts regarding the team's improvement on the field.

"Our results are disappointing, but as long as we continue to play the way we are doing, we're going to get good results. Our playing is not disappointing," he said.

The Wildcats return home this week to concentrate on practice and academics in preparation for their game later this week against Denver.

"It's time to slow down and get our bearings back. Traveling is tough, we were gone this past weekend for five days," Caris said. "Now being back at home we can re-focus on our academics and get more practices in."

Arizona will continue to practice its possession and defensive games and overall finishing before opening play at Murphey Stadium Friday night at 7 against the Denver Pioneers.

Kate Longworth can be reached via e-mail at Kate.Longworth@wildcat.arizona.edu.