By Steve Fanucchi
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The UA women's soccer team won its second straight game yesterday, beating the University of Utah Utes 2-1, to take both games the Wildcats played in the University of Arizona Tournament.
The UA's streak comes after its second-longest losing streak in school history Ÿ four games Ÿ and, perhaps more importantly, moves the Wildcats' overall record to the .500 mark for the first time since Sept. 22., when UA was 3-3. Arizona is 5-5 overall and 1-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference. Through 10 games this year, the Wildcats have three more wins than in their inaugural 1994 season when they had two wins in their first 10 games.
The Wildcats got on the board first at the 11:43 mark of the first half when senior captain Christine Keeley took a pass from Kelly Keve and scored from directly in front of the goal for the 1-0 lead. Keeley continued to create offense for the Wildcats when Gina Leverette passed to Keeley, who put a head shot into the goal at the 37:40 mark of the first half to give the UA a 2-0 advantage.
Keeley has taken over as the leader of the Wildcats. In Keeley's last two games she has amassed four goals on 11 shots and one assist. Keeley now leads the team in goals with seven, assists with two, and shots on goal with 36. Freshman Nikki Jones is second on the team in goals with five and second in assists with one.
"She (Keeley) creates things in the game. That is part of her game and when she does that, things for us as a team come together more," UA head coach Lisa Fraser said.
The Wildcats rolled through the first half as they created pressure and made things happen. UA seemed very comfortable and had the 2-0 lead at the half.
The Utes (4-4-2) put pressure on the Wildcats in the second half and UA did not respond. A lackadaisical defense and some poor decisions by the Wildcats prevented them from getting their first shutout of the year. With just 41 seconds remaining the Wildcats slipped on defense and Joanna Barney chipped a shot over UA goalkeeper Jen Weibel for the goal and only score on the day for the Utes.
"We did not play up to our ability today. In the second half we just toughed it out instead of playing through the whole game like we should have. Up 2-0 at half is a bad position to be in. You get lulled into complacency and the game can easily change," Fraser said.
Weibel played consistently for the second straight game, making some huge saves in both of the UA's tournament wins. Weibel had 11 saves against Utah and was just shy of her first shutout of the year. Weibel has saved 50 of the 71 shots fired at her this year.
The Utes and USC Trojans played in the second game of the tournament Saturday. The Trojans won 3-1. The Wildcats were the only team to win both of their games in the tournament.
The UA travels to California for two nonconference games against San Diego State Thursday and Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo Saturday.