Posted Nov 1, 2021, 6:55 am
Colorado goalkeeper Dani Hansen gets to the ball just ahead of Arizona’s Jordan Hall and Olivia Briede. – Joshua Pearson/TucsonSentinel.com
The Arizona Wildcats women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday, a day to honor the team’s outgoing seniors, at Mulcahy Stadium.
The lone goal of the match came in the second half, right on the hour mark, as Shyra James slipped one past Arizona keeper Hope Hisey. Although Colorado had spent much of the match parked in Arizona’s final third, the defense limited their chances. Arizona keeper Hope Hisey only recorded two saves, but came up big: intercepting dangerous crosses and breaking up Colorado’s play.
Arizona’s trouble was largely on the other side of the field. Although they recorded more shots than Colorado (7 – 6), the Wildcats were unable to have a sustained run of possession in front of Colorado’s goal.
“I feel disappointed and a little saddened for the seniors, and for the team for how hard they’ve been pushing,” said coach Becca Moros. “I’m glad we competed well and that we ended well…I still see things that we have been working on that continue to improve.”
“We’ve got to work on our mentality,” she added.
The team, most notably in the last half-hour, didn’t put much pressure on the Colorado defense. Scoring ace Jill Aguilera was limited to only three shots and looked isolated at times. In other moments when the attackers would sally up field, they’d find themselves out numbered with few options for a shot or a pass. The team didn’t seem to move up as a group when it was time to mount an offense.
“It’s a fatigue factor,” Moros said. “But everything we do has to build off of possession and we didn’t have possession.”
Moros has emphasized throughout the season that the new look team is a long term project and that improvements might not show up on the scoreboard right away. Senior Ava McCray, who is undecided on taking advantage of the COVID year to play one more season, seems to be buying into the concept.
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“I thought it was a good collective effort by the entire team,” she said. “I thought everyone fought hard.”
“The season hasn’t gone as well as we thought, but Thursday was a good win to help us with this game and ASU next Friday,” she added.
That Friday match will close out the season at Mulchahy Stadium at 7 p.m.
This content was originally published here.
