FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 21, 2024) – Northern Arizona Soccer (0-0-1, 0-0-0 Big Sky) has its sights on a second-straight contest with an in-state rival as the Lumberjacks are headed to Tucson for a Thursday night meeting with the Arizona Wildcats (2-0-0, 0-0-0 Big 12). The Jacks are coming off a 1-1 draw at Arizona State to open the regular season while snapping a 22-year skid to the Sundevils.
Deniah Wells played hero for the Lumberjack squad in the 82
nd minute of the match, finding the equalizing off a pass from
Avery Ott who picked up a goalkeeper deflection and found Wells inside the box. Wells' performance earned her first-career Big Sky player of the week accolades as the conference announced Tuesday morning. NAU's senior keeper
Trinity Corcoran tabbed six saves against the Sundevils while playing the full 90 minutes.
Micala Boex also made her Lumberjack debut at ASU, taking the most shots on the Lumberjack roster with three in 56 minutes on the pitch.
Zoe Ballard,
Rece Grant,
Valerie Llamas, and
Ella Freebury all earned their first career starts in the Tempe season opener.
As NAU hosts its home opener following Thursday night's contest with the Wildcats, the Jacks are looking to pick up the first win of the season before facing Pennsylvania and Utah Tech in Flagstaff. Arizona will enter the match with a perfect 2-0-0 start to the season after a 1-0 win to open the regular season on the road and a 5-0 home opener against the Pacific Tigers on Sunday.
Arizona's graduate forward Nicol Dallin has paved the way for the Wildcats thus far, picking up five goals in her first two matches with four coming in the victory over Pacific. Dallin's offensive performance earner TopDrawerSoccer player of the week honors, as announced on Tuesday. Shanti Weddington claimed the one other goal in the 37
th minute against the Tigers.
The Wildcats have evenly split time in the box as Olivia Ramey has taken the start in both regular season matches while Sofia Cortes-Browne has taken over in both second halves.
The two programs last met on the pitch in Flagstaff in August of 2023, where Arizona took home the 2-1 edge. Despite the loss, the Lumberjacks outshot the Cats 15-12 while
Haylee Phoenix scored to cut the deficit to one in the 66
th minute. NAU is looking to pick up the first-ever program win over Arizona.
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