Friday night, Arizona soccer held its home opener against NAU with new head coach Becca Moros looking for her first coaching win after dropping the season opener to Utah Valley 2-0 on the road.
With Moros coaching in her first game at Mulcahy Stadium, she recorded her first win as a head coach after a 2-1 victory over the Lumberjacks to improve to 1-1 on the season.
When Moros was asked about her first career win all she had to say was, "it feels better than last week."
Arizona was able to score on two set pieces with goals from sophomore forward Kayden Heinrich in the ninth minute and a goal by sophomore midfielder Tianna Sidtikun 36th minute to give the Wildcats a commanding 2-0 lead.
The goals by Heinrich and Sidtikun were the first of their careers at the collegiate level.
"It felt really good especially that'd be the first goal of the game. It really set the tone for the rest of the game and hopefully the rest of the season," said Heinrich. "I saw the ball coming in, and we had been practicing set pieces a lot during practice this week, so I knew where I needed to be, and I wasn't in the right place at the right time to get a body part on it."
Last week Arizona's offense struggled to create scoring opportunities against Utah Valley, only have one shot the whole match.
Against the Lumberjacks, the Wildcats' offense turned up the pressure, outshooting NAU 21-10 and dominating the corner kicks 10-2, which proved to be the difference between the two teams.
The Lumberjacks' one goal came in the 54th minute after Arizona turned the ball over creating a one-on-one opportunity that NAU was able to capitalize on.
"I think obviously, there's a defensive breakdown on our part, and we left ourselves really exposed, do that enough times, and you're going to get scored on," said Moros. "So I think they did a good job finishing and capitalizing on our mistake. But I think overall, we are much more in control of the game. And I think that feeds into the players' confidence and be resilient in moments like that because those things happen in every game. The momentum shifts for a second, and you've got to get it back as fast as possible."
Although goalkeeper Hope Hisey gave up the goal to NAU, she finished the game with three saves helping to keep the Lumberjacks from tying the game to secure the team's first victory of the season.
The clear difference between game one and game two for Arizona was the shots attempted with 21 against NAU, however players talked about the level of communication and how there seemed to be a better understanding of the new system.
"I think we had good leadership out on the field. I know I was hearing Jill Aguilera talking, I was hearing Sabrina Enciso talking, and I myself talking after that goal, just making sure we calm down, realize that's a one-off," said Hisey. "That's not how the game was going. When we play our way, good things happen. And so, just calming the game down."
Arizona will now travel to Tempe to face LSU and Cal State Northridge in the team's first two-game week of the season.
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