Arizona Soccer ends regular season with win over the Sun Devils

The Arizona Soccer team (12-5-2, 5-4-2) ended their regular season with a win over their hated in-state rivals, the ASU Sun Devils.

There is nothing better than seeing the Wildcats win! Whether its basketball, football, baseball, softball, it doesn’t matter it all feels good. On Friday, the Arizona Soccer made Wildcat fans proud.

When the clock reached 0:00 yesterday, Wildcat fans rejoiced. In the final regular season game for the Arizona Soccer team, the Wildcats were victorious, capping off a remarkable 2018 run.

Arizona Wildcats

What made it all the sweeter, was it was against their hated rivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils. Traveling up to Tempe for a tough match-up to close out the season, the Wildcats left that place up North as 1-0 winners.

Heading into that last regular season game, the Wildcats were coming off a tough 1-0 loss to the Oregon Ducks on the road.

Despite being winners in three of their last four games, Arizona would need to beat ASU to ensure a winning record in the Pac-12, and secure a playoff spot.

It was going to be easy, but they were looking to turn things around as they would face the Devils in Tempe. Fortunately for the Cats, it only took seven minutes into the game before the Wildcats would score the only goal of the game.

The goal came from redshirt junior defender Morgan McGarry, as she got a well-placed deflection that she was able to put past the Devils’ keeper. The goal was McGarry’s third of the season.

Luckily, Arizona’s goal helped to set the tone early, and gave the Wildcats the cushion it needed in this one.

Despite being down 1-0, ASU did end up taking nine shots for the match, with just three being on goal. Senior goalkeeper Lainey Burdett had no problem saving all three shots, adding to her total of 67 saves for the season.

The senior finishes the regular season, with a save percentage of 80.7 and a goals allowed average of .81 per game.

One of the consistent factors and reasons why this team has been so successful this season is their defense.  Strong goalkeeping and limiting their opponents to shots on goal are some of the main factors of why they have won many close games this year.

The Wildcats finish the season with an overall record of 12-5-2 and conference record of 5-4-2. As a result of their win over the Sun Devils, they will more then likely host the first round of the NCAA  Soccer Tournament next weekend.  Official announcement of the 64 team bracket will be on November 5th at 1:30pm.

Also, with the win over ASU, marks the first time in school history that the Wildcats have won three straight:

Last year, the Wildcats hosted the first round of the NCAA tournament and won over TCU 2-1, before losing 1-0 to Florida State in the second round. This season, the Wildcats will look to use the momentum gained from the win against the Devils and carry that into the tournament.

At Zona Zealots, we would like to congratulate the Wildcats women’s soccer team on another successful season and look forward to great things happening during post season. Bear Down!