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Soccer gets back to its winning ways

Ian C. Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat UA goalie Shannon Monti makes a save in a game earlier this season. Monti recorded the first shutout of her career as the Wildcats recorded their first shutout of the season, beating Arkansas Littlerock 2-0 nothing on Saturday.

After a disappointing loss to UTEP Thursday night, the UA women's soccer team proved its resiliency by mounting a 2-0 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock in El-Paso, Texas.

The shutout over the Trojans (3-6-0 overall) was the first of the year for the Wildcats, as sophomore goalkeeper Shannon Monti only had to make two saves to record her first career clean sheet.

"I think we played well," sophomore forward Kim McGehee said. "We played our game unlike the game against UTEP."

The Wildcats (4-4-0 overall, 0-1-0 in Pacific 10 Conference) used an offensive attack to overwhelm the UARL defense by outshooting the Trojans 20-6.

"I think we are coming into our own," junior goalkeeper Inger Airheart said. "We are scoring really well, and we were glad to come out with a win to stay .500."

Leading the way in the scoring department for the Wildcats were sophomores Katie Winship and Tiffany Sabado.

Winship put UA on the board quickly as she scored an unassisted goal just five minutes into the contest.

The goal was Winship's first as a Wildcat since transferring from Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., last year.

The second goal of the game didn't come until the 87th minute as Sabado took a pass from junior forward Chrissy Sanford and blasted a shot past Trojans goalkeeper Kate Ellmo to put the game out of reach.

"The second half we played really good soccer, but the first half we played, we played bad," head coach Lisa Fraser said. "I think they (UA) are disappointed though."

The disappointment stems from the tough loss to UTEP on Friday and UA's inability to start games with a high energy level.

"We just know that if we want to compete in the Pac-10, we have to step up," Sanford said. "We need to get ourselves motivated; we can't depend on our coaches to motivate us; we have to do it ourselves; it has to come from within."

Besides motivational problems, the Wildcats also must recover from a rash of injuries that have occurred over the past couple of games.

The most significant injuries were to junior midfielder Brooke McManus and sophomore midfielder Marisa Padula, who did not play against UARL.

McManus is suffering from a bad back and bruised shin, while Padula has a deep knee bruise.

Fraser said the injuries were not very serious and that she expects both players to be ready by Friday when the Wildcats host Pepperdine.

With multiple injuries, the team's reserves stepped up and did an admirable job against the Trojans, though.

"I felt that we played well, figuring they (UARL) weren't really strong," junior defender Lisa Haralambie said. "Our reserves did a great job."