Women's Soccer Falls to Arizona, 1-0

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Utah women's soccer team-controlled play on Thursday night at Arizona but were defeated by the Wildcats 1-0 at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium.
 
Utah (6-9-3, 1-6-2 Pac-12) held possession for 74 percent of the match against Arizona (4-12-0, 1-8-0 Pac-12). The Utes held possession of the ball for 52 percent in the attacking third against the Wildcats and had seven shots on goal. Utah had seven corner-kicks in the match.

"Once again, we felt good about how we played between the 18s, but at the end of the day, you have to score chances you create and not give up soft goals, and we've failed in those areas too often, unfortunately," remarked head coach Hideki Nakada. "We will continue to build on things we are doing well and look to get better inside the 18 on both sides of the ball in the last two games."
  
Utah's offense came out looking to score early in the contest as the Utes had the game's first shot. In the 11' minute Courtney Talbot had a shot that went to the bottom left corner, but Hope Hisey made a diving save. Utah came back two minutes later when Eden Jacobsen had two scoring opportunities, but the shots were wide.
 
In the 15' minute of the match, Megan Chelf took the first shot for the Wildcats. She forced Chelsea Peterson to make a diving save, but the ball ended up at the feet of Jill Aguilera, who scored the first goal of the match, putting Arizona ahead 1-0.
 
Jacobsen and Talbot continued to work and put pressure on the Wildcats defense and have quality scoring chances. Talbot had a shot in the 25' minute of the match that was saved. Jacobsen continued to attack and set teammates up for scoring opportunities. In the 37' minute, Avery Brady got an opportunity that Hisey saved. Utah went into halftime, trailing 1-0.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Utes continued to pressure the Wildcats defense as Ali Schinko had a shot on goal that Hisey saved. Anna Escobedo continued with the Utes pressure as she had a blast that went to the upper corner but was saved.
 
Utah continued attacking the Arizona backline, but the Wildcats stood tall and, in the 83' minute, tallied another save on a Utes shot. This time Brady had a shot on goal but was again saved. Utah continued to battle but could not get another quality scoring chance, and they would fall to Arizona 1-0.
 
Utah returns to action on Sunday when they take on Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. First kick is set for 2 p.m. MT and can be seen on the ASU Live Stream.