Arizona

Arizona soccer finishes pre-conference slate with victory over New Mexico State

Published

4 months ago

September 6, 2024

Arizona soccer finishes pre-conference slate with victory over New Mexico State

Most of Arizona’s wins have been blowouts, but the Wildcats finished their pre-conference slate the same way they started it—with a 1-0 victory. This time it was New Mexico State that was the victim.

The Wildcats finally took the field at home in Mulcahy Soccer Stadium after three road games. Thursday night’s contest was their only match this week. It was also their lone homestand in a seven-game stretch that has them return to the road for three conference games starting Thursday, Sept. 12.

Arizona took the lead in the 19th minute when senior Nyota Katembo knocked a shot into the air. It didn’t go into the net, but it found fellow senior Marley Chappel just in front of the net. Chappel put it in to score her first goal of the season and just the second in her career. She last scored during her freshman year against Texas Tech.

“Honestly, I was definitely more there for just reassurance purposes,” Chappel said. “I think (Katembo) did a lot of the hard work, but I think collectively, it was a good goal between the three forwards up top. I think we figured out some good movements, and I was there for her second ball, and it worked out. But that’s what happens in soccer.”

That work between the players—forwards, midfielders, and defenders—is leading to more success this season. Last year, Arizona had a total of four assists through its first seven matches. It has a whopping 13 this year. Chappel has accounted for two of them and Katembo had her first against the Aggies.

Working together has led to more scoring, in general. Chappel’s goal gave the Wildcats 16 this season. They had 12 through seven games last year.

“I think playing with everybody’s strength and knowing our teammate’s strength and weakness just helps us be better in the final third,” Katembo said. “Which balls are better for certain people, if you want it in the space or at your feet, I think we can recognize that way easier.”

The Wildcats did not have as much offensive success in the second half.

“I think our first half was strong, and I think our second half, they made some good adjustments,” Moros said. “It was tight to play through. They were jumping on all the through balls that we were trying to slip into kind of our intermediate line between their midfield and their back line, and they were picking those balls off. So we had an opportunity to adjust there where I think we can get better from that when we look at it on film, and I think we’re well prepared going into conference.”

Despite the diminished offensive success in the latter half, the Wildcats still outperformed their opponent. They had 13 shots to five for the Aggies. Six of Arizona’s shots were on goal while NMSU had three on goal.

UA also had more corner kicks than its opponent for the first time since Aug. 22 against NAU. The difference was just one (6 to 5), but it was positive for a team that has given up 37 corners this year while only taking 28.

The defense kept up its end of the bargain to keep a clean sheet after the offense put the team in front.

“We’re still young in the backline, but I think they’re doing a really good job just maintaining and just managing the game whenever we’re up 1-0,” Katembo said.

Two of those young defenders who helped maintain the lead were Zoe Mendiola and Kennedy Fletcher. Both were making their second straight starts. Unlike Mendiola, Fletcher didn’t play the entire game, but she was in there at crunch time.

“Kennedy’s confidence and ability to communicate, especially as a freshman, she’s not intimidated by anything,” Moros said. “She knows the game well, and she’s willing to share information. Very proactive. She plays center back, so she has those good organizational skills. She understands the backline shape really well, so she can help out and compact space at critical moments, force play in the right directions, so that even if the other team gets opportunities they are not as good opportunities as they could be. And she’s very confident on the ball, so she can play out of the back really well. Good in the air, just an all-around, really quality player. Has really good maturity for a very young player.”

Fletcher and Mendiola have broken through. They are not only getting playing time but starting now. Other freshmen are getting considerable time on the field even if they aren’t part of the starting 11. With only one game this week, Moros thinks it’s a good time for those who haven’t broken through to show what they can do as the team gets additional time for training.

“Oh, thank God, we have training,” Moros said. “Pretty much just last week, we’re like, well, we’ve got six training sessions this season that aren’t a match day minus one or a match day plus. So a match day minus one is a taper day. You’re getting ready for a game. Match day plus one, you’re recovering from the day before. Those aren’t real training days. And with the Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, you don’t train. So this weekend is the first time we get to train, basically since preseason. So the team is looking forward to it. We’re looking forward to it. The players who haven’t cracked into the lineup, they’re dying for that opportunity, as well.”

Lead photo by Marison Bilagody / Arizona Athletics

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Arizona

Tommy Lloyd Giving Arizona Wildcats Mandatory Break During Holidays

Published

4 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Tommy Lloyd Giving Arizona Wildcats Mandatory Break During Holidays

This season has not gone as many expected for Arizona.

After coming into the year ranked No. 10 in preseason polls, the Wildcats quickly dropped out of the picture following losses to Wisconsin and Duke which were a precursor of what was to come.

Arizona went into the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament as one of the favorites, and after beating Davidson in their first-round matchup by over 30 points, it looked like they had gotten things back on track and were ready to play like the team many expected them to be.

But, alarm bells went off when they lost back-to-back games against Oklahoma and West Virginia that pushed them under .500 for the first time in the Tommy Lloyd era, and also the first time in 14 years.

Since then, Arizona has taken care of business against the lesser opponents on their schedule but failed to win against UCLA despite being in control for the majority of that contest.

The Wildcats closed out their non-conference schedule in style following that loss, bludgeoning Samford and Central Michigan to head into the holiday break feeling more positive about what they can accomplish going forward, while also having a lot to think about.

Lloyd and the players know this wasn’t the early-season stretch they wanted, but he gave his team a clear directive during this break; take time away from basketball.

“Rest, relax, love your family, hang out. That’s the homework,” the head coach said per Bruce Pascoe of The Arizona Daily Star.

That’s probably a good approach.

There’s nothing anyone can do about what has already taken place, but they can certainly get burned out if they’re not careful and lose confidence if they dwell on mistakes.

“I mean, this nonconference was rough. I think we all need a little break and a reset,” KJ Lewis said.

Lloyd is giving his players that time to reset, sending everyone home for the holidays or somewhere with either friends or family.

This time away should hopefully allow Arizona to put the non-conference schedule in the past and get ready for the daunting challenge that will come by playing Big 12 opponents until Selection Sunday.

Lloyd is also hoping this let’s his team get motivated for their return to the court.

“Get hungry. Get hungry because we know when we come back — we’re excited to be starting this Big 12 thing we’ve been talking about for about 20 months. We’re fired up,” he added.

Arizona welcomes TCU into the McKale Center on Dec. 30.

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Arizona

Instant Grades: Cardinals Sabotage Playoff Hopes

Published

12 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Instant Grades: Cardinals Sabotage Playoff Hopes

The story since the bye week has largely been the same game after game. The Arizona Cardinals had two chances to beat the Seattle Seahawks and fight for first place in the division. They failed both times.

Today, they needed to beat the Carolina Panthers to stay in the hunt with the LA Rams beating the New York Jets. They failed.

The underlying issues of why this is happening is another issue for another article, but the fact is that the Arizona Cardinals are out of the playoff hunt and already looking forward to 2025.

In the meantime, what happened today and how did the various position groups perform? Let’s take a look.

Quarterback – C-

No, Kyler Murray didn’t put the entire team on his back today to force a win, but it also can not be argued that he had much help from the team around him other than James Conner. That is not an excuse though for a player in his sixth NFL season with a massive contract that comes with high performance expectations.

Still, Murray is supposed to be a special player and he did not look special today. There was a flash of the special quarterback in the fourth quarter with a 20-yard rushing touchdown, but it was too little too late.

Most concerning, late in the fourth quarter Murray made a boneheaded mistake throwing to a spot of the field without an obvious receiver and the Panthers picked off the floater and held the ball till the very end, effectively ending Arizona’s season. There has not been a game since the bye in which Murray has not made a similarly mind-bogglingly bad play.

Offensive Line – B-

There were certainly concerns about the offensive line going into this game with left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. out with a knee injury and center Hjalte Froholdt suffering from an illness.

Thankfully, Froholdt was able to play through illness and Kelvin Beachum plugged in at left tackle and played another decent game.

Overall, the offensive line played a fine game and were one of the few position groups that showed up and simply did their job althought their performance was noticeably impacted after Jonah Williams went to locker room with a knee issue in the third quarter.

Tight End – C

Hard to really grade this position since, in a major switch from previous weeks, Trey McBride did not feature heavily for the Cardinals offense.

McBride caught three of the four balls that came his way, but only for a gain of 20 yards and once again was kept out of the end zone to extend his scoreless streak.

Running Back – A

James Conner is every coaches dream power back. After Petzing belatedly figured out that the Panthers possess the worst run defense in the league, Conner truly took over the offense.

Sadly, Conner hurt his knee in the third quarter and did not reenter the game leaving Michael Carter and DeeJay Dallas as the remaining active running backs.

Without Conner’s special gifts the Cardinals offense was not the same and the Panthers took advantage of that fact.

Wide Receiver – C-

The reader would be excused for not believing the Cardinals have any wide receivers on the roster considering the lack of impact they have had in several games this season.

Petzing has faced severe backlash for not finding ways to get the ball to the No. 4 overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft, Marvin Harrison, Jr, and for good reason. Still, trying to force the ball to Harrison, Jr. has not worked out and the connection between Murray and his rookie receiver is still not there.

Michael Wilson has shown up in big moments several times this year and did have a major 38-yard grab in the third quarter that gave the Cardinals some life.

Defensive Line – C-

The Cardinals defensive line failed in the two areas that were criticial to helping their team succeed this afternoon; contain Chuba Hubbard and put pressure on Bryce Young.

Naquan Jones was the only defensive lineman to actually get to Young but otherwise the young, second-year quarterback had time to do what he wanted and even saw multiple gaps open up through the defensive line and broke off some major runs that put the Cardinals in a hole early.

Hubbard really started to have his way in the second half and on several drives basically controlled the entire Panthers offense, often getting through the first line of defense untouched.

Linebacker – C+

The most that can really be said for this group is that Baron Browning flashes occasionally and did manage to get Young on the ground today for a sack.

Otherwise, the linebackers did not have a significant impact on this game after being one of the most consistent position groups all season. That being said, Kyzir White’s sack in overtime gave the Cardinals much needed hope and forced a punt, but again, too little too late.

The problems containing Panthers running back Hubbard might have started with the defensive line but the linebackers are supposed to stem the bleeding and they failed consistently in that effort in the second half.

Secondary – B-

Young did not have an inspired passing game today at all, and that is largely thanks to a sticky Cardinals secondary that did not allow him many easy downfield passes.

Rookie Max Melton had some rookie moments, but he continues to show some flashes that indicate a bright future in the league. It was second-year cornerback Garrett Williams that had some coverage issues.

Budda Baker did Budda Baker things but a big coverage whiff in the fourth quarter put the Cardinals in tough position. Fellow safety Jalen Thompson teamed up with Baker to clean up a lot of mistakes.

Sean Murphy-Bunting has struggled in big moments all season and today was not an exception. Needing a big stop early in the fourth quarter he allowed a corner of the end zone touchdown that put the Panthers up by ten and effectively ended the Cardinals season. A bad individual performance but not necessarily indicative of the entire position group’s performance.

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Arizona

Arizona Cardinals vs Carolina Panthers live score updates for NFL Week 16 game today

Published

20 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Arizona Cardinals vs Carolina Panthers live score updates for NFL Week 16 game today

The Arizona Cardinals continue their 2024 NFL regular season schedule with an NFL Week 16 game against the Carolina Panthers today.

The Cardinals are coming off a 30-17 win against the New England Patriots at home in NFL Week 15.

The Panthers lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 30-14.

The Cardinals are 7-7 on the season. The Panthers are 3-11.

Follow our live updates of the game, which is being played at Carolina’s Bank of America Stadium, for the latest score, news, notes and analysis of the Week 16 NFL game Sunday.

Watch Cardinals at Panthers with FUBO (free trial)

Cardinals vs Panthers schedule: What time is NFL Week 16 game?

The game is on Sunday, Dec. 22, at 11 a.m. MST, 1 p.m. ET.

Cardinals vs Panthers TV: What channel is NFL Week 16 game on?

The game can be seen on FOX.

Cardinals vs Panthers streaming: How do I watch NFL Week 16 game on livestream?

Streaming options for the Cardinals at Panthers game include FUBO and other streaming services that carry FOX.

Cardinals vs Panthers announcers: Who is calling the NFL Week 16 game?

Chris Myers (play-by-play) and Mark Schlereth (analyst) are scheduled to be the announcers for the Cardinals-Panthers Week 16 NFL game.

Cardinals vs Panthers game odds: Who is favored in NFL Week 16?

The Cardinals are a four-point favorite over the Panthers in NFL Week 16 odds for the game, courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook.

Arizona is -225 on the moneyline, while Carolina is +180.

The over/under (point total) is set at 47 points.

Pregame reading for Cardinals at Panthers game today

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