Seattle, Wash. - The University of Arizona Wildcat soccer team surrendered two late goals to the Washington Huskies on Sunday afternoon, snapping the team's three-game winning streak. The match was played in Seattle at Husky Soccer Stadium. Arizona was shutout for just the second time all season. Arizona is now 9-3-1 (3-2 Pac-12) on the season and Washington moved to 10-4 (3-2 Pac-12).
The first half saw most of the threatening scoring chances go to the Huskies. They had a couple attackers make runs across the front of the goal but they could never make great contact. They had some threatening crosses into the box that were handled superbly by senior goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman. She punched out two of them and caught another.
On the attack for Arizona, the best chance came from a flip throw-in by sophomore Paige Crouch that found the head of junior Hayley Estopare. Her header back towards the goal hit the crossbar and bounced out of play. Senior forward Alexandra Doller had shot that was wide left of the target. She also had a header from a long ball played in by junior Alexa Montgomery but it was a soft looping header that the Washington keeper handled with ease. Freshman Gabi Stoian and junior Lexe Selman also got in on the attack, as both attempted shots that were blocked by UW defenders.
In the second half, Arizona dominated possession and created multiple opportunities but just couldn't get the goal. Selman fired a pair of shots that were both right at the keeper. Arizona had some dangerous flip throw-ins that gave Washington trouble in the box but they just couldn't get anybody on the end of it to finish. Doller got her head on a ball after Estopare flicked on a flip throw-in but it sailed high and landed on top of the net. Stoian made some good contact on a pair of shots but both were blocked right away by the Washington defense.
Washington began to create more opportunities in the latter part of the second half. The tide turned around the 80th minute as the Huskies began to see more of the ball. In the 87th minute, Washington's defender inadvertently whacked Estopare in the face, causing her to fall down. The defender then played a through ball for Jaclyn Softli. Junior defender Sheaffer Skadsen tried to clear it but it just deflected off Softli and stayed at her feet. She went up the sideline and cut in on goal, Kaufman came off her line but she slipped it right under her arms and into the net. That goal came at the 87:36 mark.
On the play, Kaufman got kicked in the back of the head and was subbed off for the first time all season. Senior LeeAndra Smith put on the keeper's uniform and subbed in for Kaufman. A long ball was played to her, she was about 30 yards away from goal and attempted to play a long ball but did not strike it well. It stayed on the ground and went right to Kate Bennet of Washington who fired a shot from about 45 yards away, over Smith's head and into the goal at the 89:22 mark.
Overall, Arizona attempted 14 shots, four in the first half and 10 in the second. Six (one in the first half, five in the second half) of those shots were on target. Arizona won five corner kicks (three in the first half, two in the second), committed 12 fouls and was called offside twice.
Washington had seven shots (five on target) in the first half and eight shots in the second half (four on target. They won two corner kicks in each half and committed seven fouls, four in the first and three in the second.
Arizona returns to action in Los Angeles against No. 1 UCLA on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat soccer, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow @ArizonaWSoccer on Twitter.
