Early Oregon goal holds up against Arizona soccer

It didn’t take much and it didn’t take long. In just the third minute, Arizona soccer surrendered a goal off the foot of Chardonnay Curran. It was all the Oregon Ducks needed to hand the Wildcats their fourth loss in Pac-12 play as they went on to win by a score of 1-0.

The Arizona defense was put to the test all evening. After surrendering the early goal, the defense was forced to work diligently to avoid more damage. While the offensive stats of the two teams were very close, those stats don’t tell the story. The ball was controlled by the Ducks in their attacking third for most of the game.

The Wildcats’ defense did not break after the score by the Ducks, although there were many dangerous moments with the ball in the box. The defense not only kept Oregon off the board for the rest of the match, but they kept their fight up even after losing the leader of the back line.

Redshirt senior Sabrina Enciso went down in the 57th minute. She was unable to put any weight on her right leg as she was helped off the pitch.

The Wildcats’ offense sputtered through most of the match as they struggled to keep possession of the ball, but things improved in the latter stages. Their best chances came on several nice runs by Quincy Bonds, but Arizona couldn’t get anything past Oregon goalkeeper Leah Freeman.

Jill Aguilera took three of the Wildcats’ seven shots, but only one was on goal. The Ducks were able to keep the Arizona star bottled up for most of the contest. She did not begin to find space until the final 40 minutes of the game.

Bonds, Madison Goerlinger, Megan Chelf, and Gianna Christensen had the other four shots for the Wildcats. Bonds had the only other shot on goal for Arizona.

Arizona goalkeeper Hope Hisey had two saves. The Ducks only out-shot the Wildcats by one and had just two more shots on goal, but the early defensive lapse for Arizona was all Oregon needed.

The Wildcats move on to play Oregon State next. The Beavers defeated Arizona State on Thursday to improve to 10-2 on the season. They are 2-2 in conference matches. Arizona is now 3-8 overall and 0-4 in Pac-12 play.