Cardinal vanquishes Wildcat soccer

Fans of neither kind of Wildcat football found much to cheer for Saturday. While our university's gridiron team was being pecked to bits by the Ducks, hundreds of miles to the northwest the University of Arizona women's soccer team was roundly defeated by the Stanford University Cardinal, 7-0.

It was going to be a rough test under any circumstances. The team has had trouble stabilizing their back line, and even with a new offensive line that's given more looks at goal, finishing is an issue for the squad.

It may have been too much for fans to expect that last week's shut out against Texas Tech would be repeated, especially against top-ranked Stanford. The Cardinal is a heck of an opponent to start your Pac-12 season against: the team walked into this game with a 40-game home winning streak.

The Wildcats were not without offense: Mexico international Renae Cuellar and Ana-Maria Montoya each notched two shots. Two shots also came from a surprising source: Kirstyn Magyar, a defender who is still being worked back into the line-up after injuring herself earlier in the season.

Coach Lisa Oyen pulled Ashley Jett out of goal in the 60th minute, giving back-up keeper and Tucson native Lorena Aragon her first minutes since the early days of last season.

The Cats let one in early, but they still managed to keep it close in the first half. Even Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe praised Arizona for their first half defensive effort.

"It took us a while to score. That's a credit to Arizona," Ratcliffe said in comments after the game.

Ratcliffe tallied up his 198th victory with his team's victory over Arizona.

The Wildcats have two more road games: Colorado on Friday and Utah on Sunday. They next return to the friendly surroundings of the Arroyo Chico neighborhood against Oregon on October 7th.

Tucsonenses continue to impress

At the end of FC Tucson's season this summer, players were scattered to the four winds. Interestingly, four of them landed at the same place: Santa Clara University.

To be fair, Carlos Montes, Keigo Kemaya and Connor Mitchell were already established members of the Broncos, one of the better men's programs in the country. The fourth player is Glenn Vass, the midfielder who impressed FC Tucson fans with his footwork and has already scored two goals as a freshman for Santa Clara.

FC Tucson coach Rick Schantz proudly mentions two other Tucsonenses playing for California schools: Salpointe alum Charles Blase is in his junior year at the University of San Diego, and Aaron Long is at University of California Riverside.

Shantz has another thing he likes to point out.

"They all are interested in coming back next summer."