TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona women's soccer team will travel to Palo Alto, Calif. on Friday to take on the No. 4 seeded Florida State Seminoles (12-6-1, 5-4-1 ACC) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. FSU topped Ole Miss last weekend by a score of 5-0 to earn a spot in Palo Alto on Friday.
The Seminoles have played four ranked teams this season in five matches and only defeated No. 10 Florida. Otherwise they have fallen to Duke, Wake Forest, and North Carolina twice.
FSU's star player, Deyna Castellanos, has 17 goals on the season and three assists for a total of 37 points. She competes for Venezuela's national team.
First Round Results
After an early goal by the Horned Frogs on Friday, Arizona rallied with nine shots in the second half (holding TCU to only one) and knocked in two goals from Samantha Falasco and a screamer from Cali Crisler that found the back of the net from distance.
No-Goal Zone
This one is for the defense. Arizona has only lost one match when they've scored this season (UCF, 2-1). In every other match when the Wildcats have scored at least one goal, they have won or tied the match. That's attributable to the rock-solid defense that has allowed only 95 shots-on-goal (5.00 per game) and have been a major component of Burdett's seven shutouts.
In the Burdett Cage
Junior Burdett has played all 19 matches for the Wildcats this season. Her goals-against average in those matches is only 0.789 as she has allowed only 15 goals. Although Burdett has a strong defensive line in front of her that has prevented most shots from finding the frame, Burdett has made some really huge saves this season. The match against Stanford saw 11 saves (career high) for Burdett, each one trumping the last as she used fingertips, kick saves, and fully-extended dives to hold back the Cardinal's swell of shots. Burdett has seven shutouts on the season (including against former No. 11 California), pushing her career count to 19 (2nd all-time). She has 193 career saves which is eighth all-time.
Unbeaten Streak
Gone slightly unnoticed, these Wildcats are unbeaten in their last eight matches with ties against Colorado at 0-0 (outshot 29-16) and No. 8 UCLA at 2-2. This is the second-longest unbeaten streak in Arizona history and the second-longest in the Pac-12 behind Stanford (W16).
Team Accolades
This group of seniors (Bollinger, Brascia, Crisler, Park, and Crisler) has now be- come the first such group to earn three tournament berths in four years. That's a big milestone for head coach Tony Amato and it comes behind 45 total wins for the group (most in program history). Additionally, Lainey Burdett, Morgan McGarry, and Gabi Stoian earned All-Pac-12 Honors last week.
Distributed Attack
Try marking this: twelve different players have scored for the Wildcats this season, including one defender and five bench players. This allows the Wildcats to develop their attack in multiple different ways – whether they are passing directly to their striker's feet or over the top for speedy forwards to run onto, you can be sure Arizona has someone who can put the ball into the back of the net.
Crisler's Assist-lers
Cali Crisler is in the number one spot on the stat sheet this season because she has seven assists, her most recent one coming against Washington several weeks ago. She also earned her second goal of the season on a well-placed shot into the side netting against TCU. Arizona has taken 106 corners this season, over 80% of those coming from Crisler which have added to her ability to assist.
One More Go Around for Gabi
Senior Gabi Stoian is poised to finish her career as the most decorated player in Arizona history. Despite an injury early in the season, she has played just over 1,000 minutes for the Wildcats and has tallied four goals and two assists. She sits at second all-time in goals (29), assists (22), and points (79). She needs only four more goals, three assists, and four points to break into the number one spot in each category. With a (hopefully) long gambit of postseason matches, Stoian may just crack the number one spot after all.
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