Arizona Soccer to host Denver in first round of NCAA Tourney

After a tremendous regular season by the Arizona Soccer team (12-5-2, 5-4-2) will host the Denver Pioneers (13-5-2, 7-1) in the NCAA Tournament.

With the 2018 regular season officially over, the Wildcats turn their attention to postseason play. It seems like yesterday that the season started for Arizona Soccer, but regardless the NCAA Tournament is already here.

Overall, the Wildcats were rather successful this year, putting together another solid season under head coach, Tony Amato, finishing with a nice, 1-0 win over conference rival, ASU.

Arizona Wildcats

Since overtaking the program in 2012 (2013 being his first official season), the six-year head coach has gone a combined 66-40-15, making the NCAA Tournament now four of the last six seasons.

Awaiting to learn their fate yesterday, once again the Wildcats are dancing! The team returns to the postseason, with the hopes of making another solid run.

Interestingly enough, the Wildcats become one of just five teams to make the tournament this season, the others being; Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington State.

Arizona got out to a hot start this season, going 7-1 before opening their daunting conference play. So just how good is the Pac-12? Well, the conference has produced four of the last seven national champions, so winning in the conference isn’t easy.

Their road moving forward won’t be any easier either. In their last four tournament appearances, the Wildcats have been past the second round of the playoffs just once.

The Pioneers will be the first obstacle for Arizona. So just how good is Denver?

Well, for one they were the best team in the Summit League, just edging out South Dakota State. They also had a rather tough schedule, playing a few similar opponents to Arizona.

This season, both squads faced Cal State Fullerton and Colorado. The Pioneers lost to the Buffaloes 2-1, while beating the Titans 2-0. Those results were pretty comparable to the Wildcats this year.

In their games versus Cal State Fullerton and Colorado, the Wildcats beat the Titans by a 2-1 final, while tying the then No. 18 Buffaloes 1-1.

I think the game versus Denver will be a tough one, but the huge advantage here is that the Wildcats play at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium in Tucson, where they are 9-1-2 this season.

Should the Cats win that first game, they would then take on the winner of Tennessee-Louisville. The rest of the tournament information including the tournament bracket can be found here.

Here is coach Amato talking with his team just ahead of the start of the tournament.

The Wildcats will take on Denver this Friday at 7 pm MST/ 6 pm PST.

At Zona Zealots, we are happy for the Wildcats’ selection and would like to wish them the best as they compete for a National Championship! Bear Down, Arizona!