UW Grabs First Pac-12 Win Over Arizona

Sunday, October 9

Seattle, Wash.

1:00 PM

University of Washington

6-7-1

Arizona

6-6-1

Arizona

Washington WSOC

October 09, 2016 | Women's Soccer

Box Score Arizona Final Box Score

SEATTLE – After quickly responding to an equalizer to take the lead in the 61st minute, the Washington women's soccer team held on to grab a 2-1 victory over Arizona for their first conference win of the season.

"I think any coach or player who has been in a situation where you lose multiple games in a row, it's tough mentally and draining physically," said Washington head coach Lesle Gallimore. "I thought our kids really gutted it out."

The Huskies opened up with a quick push on offense, when Kimberly Keever took a shot that was saved by the Arizona keeper within the first minute of play. Moments later, the junior forward was taken down with the ball in the box, awarding UW with a penalty kick that captain Shannon Simon converted to give UW the 1-0 lead. It was Simon's team-leading seventh goal this year, which equals her goal total from last season.

In the first 45, the Husky defense led by junior keeper Sarah Shimer kept the Wildcats off the board, grabbing three saves in the first half alone.

"That's a tough team to play, they average probably four to five inches on us all around the field," said Gallimore. "I thought Sarah did a good job of handling the box with the air balls."

In the opening of the second half, Arizona found their equalizer when Gabi Stoian scored her 6th goal of the season on a roller that snuck past Shimer.

"It wasn't perfect from start to finish, but we finished when we needed to and created when we needed to," said Gallimore. "More importantly, from Thursday to today, in a tight game late we kept our head about us and were able to win."

Minutes after allowing the goal, the Huskies quickly regrouped, when Pascale Dumesnil ran a ball into the corner, before sending it across the front of the goal where Becca Schoales was waiting to boot it into the back of the net for her 4th goal this year.

"Pascale just worked really hard to get the ball in to me on line and put it across," said Schoales. "It made it really easy to put it in."

With the lead, Washington just looked to hold on for the win, but nearly extended it in the 78th minute when Keever took a shot that bounced off the post. The Huskies were able to run out the clock and hold onto the win, moving them to 6-7-1 on the season.

"I'm really happy for our team to get off the schneid a bit," said Gallimore. "We go three straight matches on the road next against three top teams in the conference. I think we can kind of take a deep breath and say 'you know what, that part is over, let's get back to just playing'"

The Huskies will hit the road and travel to Colorado this coming week, facing the Buffaloes on Thursday, before traveling to face UCLA and USC on the road the following weekend.