Thursday night’s game between the Arizona Wildcats and the Cincinnati Bearcats featured two teams fighting for seeding position in the Big 12 championship tournament, which begins Oct. 30.
Arizona, which was 3-2-0 in its last five games, was hoping to get back to winning ways after suffering a 1-0 defeat at TCU on Sept. 22. Conversely, Cincinnati was coming off a 2-1 home win against Kansas State and was 2-3-0 in their last 5 games.
Sitting at No. 14 (last place) in the conference, Cincinnati (5-5-1, 1-3 Big 12) was on the outside looking in as only the top 12 teams will advance to the championship tournament at the conclusion of the regular season. Arizona (7-3-1, 2-2), No. 16 in the standings, was not comfortably safe either, making this contest a must win game for both sides.
The first major action occurred in the 16th minute, when Cincinnati forward Ellie Fowler’s challenge on goalkeeper Olivia Ramey earned Fowler a yellow card.
Four minutes later, Arizona senior Gianna Christiansen answered the aggression by letting loose a high arching shot that looped just over the outstretched arms of the keeper to put Arizona in front.
With Arizona’s very next attack, forward Nyota Katembo would double the lead with her second goal of the season.
Katembo was consistently a menace for Cincinnati’s defense. Her pace and aggression proved to be a handful for a Cincinnati team that desperately wanted to be on the attack instead of holding her at bay.
Arizona would never surrender that first half lead.
Arizona coach Becca Moros had this to say about her team following the two-goal victory:
“Things are always better when you win. Cincinnati played hard, and we had to match their intensity. They had some chances that we held our breath on, but I thought we did a good job with that overall. We didn’t seek to be more defensive in the second half. They came out strong in the second half and we had to weather that a little bit and wrestle some momentum back, but the energy was there, the aggression was there, and we created chances that I liked better than what we did in the first half, it just didn’t result in any goals.”
Arizona’s next match will be at home Sunday at Mulcahy Stadium, where the Wildcats will face the top team in the Big 12, West Virginia (8-2-1, 4-0).
Recommended for you
