By Monty Phan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
A historic moment, of sorts Ä the Arizona women's soccer team, in its first season as a member of Division I women's soccer, will play its home opener today against San Diego State at 2 p.m. at Pima West Community College.
The UA is 1-2 and coming off its first victory, a 2-0 shutout of Montana nine days ago.
Head coach Lisa Fraser was wary of playing up the Tucson advantage too much, however.
"We don't hold an advantage," Fraser said. "I mean, we do travel-wise, but we haven't even been on the field yet."
Nevertheless, it is a "first" in Arizona history, and an air of electricity is unavoidable, no matter what the circumstances.
"It's exciting, because it's the first home game for U of A soccer, so I think that's exciting," Fraser said. "It's a part of history, definitely."
Despite a losing record, Fraser contends that the team is getting better, and that the shutout of Montana does well to bolster that claim. In the game, Jen Duran scored her first goal, and then later assisted on Shannon Taylor's first goal. Jen Weibel got her first start in goal.
"We've improved tremendously in the last month," Fraser said. "The last few games we've played well, we just didn't do some things well and we got scored on. But we had a good game against Montana and we're hoping to carry that forward."
Being the first year in Division I, the Wildcats have their work cut out for them, as most of their opponents have already established their position in the sport.
"They're a good team," Fraser said, commenting on the Aztecs. "They're established, they've been around for a long time, so they definitely have that going for them. They've been a strong program for a long time."