Inside The Wildcats

Arizona Drops Second Match to California

Arizona concludes its tour of California with a second loss to Cal. Here is a recap of the match.
Nathaniel Martinez|
Aurora Gaines running down the pitch.
Aurora Gaines running down the pitch. | Arizona Athletics

The Arizona Wildcats soccer team dropped its second match in a row during its California tour, falling to the. Cal Golden Bears 2-1 at Berkeley, CA.

This latest loss comes after Arizona suffered its first of the season to the No. 1-ranked Stanford Cardinal at Palo Alto on Thursday, a match that saw Arizona get shut out by a score of 6-0 and dominated in shots and shots on goal

Much like the last match, Arizona went down to an early lead. Coco Thistle scored the goal in the second minute and was assisted by Noelle Bond-Flasza.

In the 26th minute of the match, Elle Kivo scored to make it 2-0, which is a trend the Wildcats had not fallen into recently until this past Thursday. Elle Kivo and Thistle were credited with the assist.

Sophomore midfielder Lily Boydstun scored Arizona's first and only goal of the match in the 58th minute to shorten the Cal lead to 2-1.

Cal rode out the rest of the time to solidify the win and conclude Arizona's tour of former Pac-12 opponents. Overall, Arizona has a 5-18-2 record against the Golden Bears.

Arizona's struggles in the last two matches

Before the last two matches, Arizona outscored its first three opponents 8-1 while also outshooting them 38-13-19-4 on goal.

Collectively, Stanford and Cal outscored Arizona 8-1, outshot it 40-19. The Wildcats have also been outscored on goal shots 25-6 in the final two matches.

The two consecutive losses put Arizona at 13th place in the Big 12. The top five to seven teams remain the same, with UCF sitting at the top with a 5-0 record. Kansas State is in second place, and TCU at third. They both share a 4-0 record.

Colorado (5-0-1), Arizona State (3-0-1), BYU (3-0-1) and Houston (2-0-1) are all undefeated and have only one draw on their records and have cracked the top seven.

Arizona bright spots

Senior goalkeeper Olivia Ramey saved seven shots in the match, putting her total up to 18 on the season. She played all 90 minutes, the fourth time she had done so.

Gaines runs down the pitch.
Aurora Gaines running down the pitch. | Arizona Athletics

Senior defender Maia Brown remains the only player on the team to have played the entirety of the match after Sunday. Junior defender Aranda Hurge and senior defender Elle Hatteburg also played all 90 minutes in the loss.

The Wildcats will now travel to Colorado to take on the University of Denver on September 4 at 7 pm. The last time these two teams met, Arizona shut out the Pioneers 3-0.

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Nathaniel Martinez
NATHANIEL MARTINEZ

Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.