No wrath of Achilles: Wildcats narrowly fall to Ladies of Troy

The University of Arizona Womens' Soccer team closed out what might be their toughest week on their PAC 12 schedule with a match against the University of Southern California. The Sunday afternoon match ended with the Women of Troy scoring the lone goal and victory over the home Wildcats.

Even with the loss, Arizona ended the match with a slight edge on shots, (12 - 11) and earned more corner kicks (8 - 2), but things didn't fall their way.

"It's not our day sometimes," said Arizona's Iliana Hocking.

"We had a lot of really good opportunities," said Wildcat Jill Aguilera, who played 52 minutes in the match. "We did really well on corners and that's something we knew we could take advantage of. We did a good job."

Both Arizona and USC had plenty of chances in the early going of the match. That ended in minute 37 with Tara Mceown whipping one past Arizona's Hope Hisey. After that, USC was happy to play a game of keep-away for the remainder of the match.

The second half moved much like the first thirty minutes. A few half-time adjustments plus USC's attempts push for a second goal opened up some opportunities for Arizona. The last 10 minutes of the half saw four forwards on the top for the Wildcats, and even a moment when goalkeeper Hisey joined the offensive push. The Cats still had to walk off the field with no goals on the afternoon.

Coach Tony Amato looked at the two matches in the week, which included a stunning 3 - 0 win over UCLA on Thursday, as a net positive.

"We played two really good teams and gave up one goal," he said. "I think that's really important. That's what I was most pleased with even though I wanted us to win both games."

Arizona makes the trip Northwest this weekend to play Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Sunday. The next home match is against Oregon on the 24th.

The Hocking twins were considered top recruits and Tony Amato tried to nab both of them. One, though, was on the field wearing USC colors on Sunday afternoon.

Penelope Hocking, who has played for the U.S. under-20 national team, played 79 minutes at forward for the Women of Troy. Her sister Iliana was on the field for the Wildcats.

"It's an odd feeling. It's the second time it's ever happened. Gotta get used to it," said Iliana of playing against her sister. "We'll always talk about game play throughout the week and be like 'what are you guys doing to prepare?' This week, it's like we can't tell you what formation we are playing or what the scouting. It's like, 'Are you ready to play me or what?'"

Even though Penelope took an opportunity to give her sister a bit of good natured heckling during a post match interview, Iliana didn't anticipate much post match ribbing.

"She's not going to rub it in my face, but she's totally bummed she didn't score."