Seniors lead Arizona soccer past Cal, back into NCAA Tournament conversation

Arizona’s seniors stepped up in the final home game of the season.

Jada Talley, Jada Aguilera and Hannah Clifford combined to net the lone goal in Arizona’s 1-0 win over Cal on Sunday at Mulcahy Stadium.

Aguilera one-touched a pass from Clifford onto Talley, who collected the ball deep in the box and dribbled a shot into the right side of the net. It appeared the Cal defender deflected it, leaving the goalkeeper well out of position.

Talley and Aguilera, who are planning to return next season, also combined for both goals in Friday’s 2-1 win over Stanford, though that time it was Aguilera who scored them.

The Bay Area sweep puts the Wildcats (8-4, 3-4) right back in the NCAA Tournament picture. They entered the week 38th in RPI and have three winnable road games left: at Colorado, Utah and ASU.

However, with the postseason field consisting of 48 teams instead of 64 this season, the Wildcats still have plenty of work to do. The Pac-12 is expected to get 4-5 bids at most, and the Wildcats are right on the border of that.

Below are some other highlights from the win over Cal. Arizona won the shot differential pretty handily (17-9) and only allowed two shots on goal. Aguilera, Clifford and Talley combined for 11 of UA’s shots.