Arizona Triumphs Over NAU in First Home Match of the Season
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Wildcats (1-1-0) pulled out a 2-1 win over NAU (0-3-0) in their first home match of the season. The Cats were able to break open the match early in the first half and advance their lead shortly after. Arizona dominated the Lumberjacks offensively, outshooting them 21-10, leading in SOG 5-4, and leading corners 10-2. Keeper Hope Hisey was able to make three crucial saves to keep the Jacks from equaling the match. This is Head Coach Becca Moros's first regular season win and first win at the Arizona Wildcat's home stadium, Mulcahy.
Arizona Goals
9' Kayden Heinrich
36' Tianna Sidtikun
Play of the match - Fast and Furious
Sophomores Kayden Heinrich and Tianna Sidtikun were the two goal scorers of the night, securing the home win for Arizona. In just the ninth minute of match play, Arizona was able to capitalize on their second corner and put themselves on the board. Senior forward Jill Aguilera picked up her 15th career assist as freshman Kayden Heinrich was able to sink the corner ball into the back of the net. In the fastest goal since the beginning of conference play last season, Heinrich was able to score the first goal of her college career.
Players of the match - First Time for Everything
In just under 30 minutes after Heinrich's goal in the 9th minute, freshman Tianna Sidtikun was able to make an identical play off of freshman Olivia Briede's corner. This goal, coming in the 36th minute, not only solidified Arizona's fate but also resulted in Sidtikun's first career goal and Briede's first career assist.
By The Numbers
1 - This is Head Coach Becca Moros's first regular season win with Arizona. It also marks her first win as an NCAA head coach and at Arizona's home stadium.
21 - This is the most shots the Wildcats have taken all season by 8. Arizona's top shot takers were Jill Aguilera with 6 and Jordan Hall with 3.
545 - The match against NAU marks the first time since Feb. 2019 that fans have been allowed at Arizona home matches. 545 days later, Arizona Soccer fans were welcomed back to Mulcahy.
Brief Blurb with Becca
Head Coach Becca Moros
On what went different against NAU vs Utah Valley
"Our quality of play went up big time, this looked more like the way we've been training. Last week was a bit of an anomaly for us, we just got rattled and never settled back down. In this game -- we used Hope more and we used our center backs more so we got into the midfield in better shape and better position and they got into the final third in much better shape and positioning."
Up Next
The Wildcats will head on the road to Arizona State to play a couple of neutral matches against LSU and CSUN. Arizona will take on LSU on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 1:00 p.m. MST and CSUN on Sunday, Sept 5 at 11:00 a.m. MST.
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