Quick start at North Carolina could define the season for Arizona soccer

Arizona soccer has gotten out of the gates quickly this season, scoring in the first 11 minutes of two matches on the way to a 3-0 record. When the Wildcats take on No. 5 North Carolina on Sunday morning, they’ll need to be ready early in more ways than one.

UA travels across the country to take on the Tar Heels. The game will kick off at noon as far as UNC is concerned, but that’s 9 a.m. back home for the Wildcats. Arizona head coach Becca Moros was thinking about preparing her players for that trip in more ways than one just minutes after defeating NAU last Thursday evening.

“Number one thing for us right now is recovery,” Moros said. “We have a coast-to-coast travel trip, so there’s some dehydration issues, you get stiff on planes, different things like that. So that’s going to be top priority for us in preparing for that game. But you know the calmness at times that comes over us and we can just play the simple pass, play consistently well, I think those are things that are going to serve us really well against UNC, which is going to have a lot of athleticism, powerful players in the 1-v-1s, be very efficient with their passing and getting it in quickly. So there’s good quality there all across their lineup. So I think that calmness and ability to play our game is hopefully going to come through against them, as well.”

Falling into an early hole is not a good strategy when facing what Moros has called “the most iconic program in college soccer.” The Tar Heels finished last season No. 6 in the RPI and are also headed into the match with a 3-0 record.

That’s not to say that there aren’t things for UNC to overcome. The players found out less than a week before their first match that legendary Tar Heels head coach Anson Dorrance was retiring effective immediately. His associate head coach, Damon Nahas, took over as the interim for the season. Moros doesn’t think that will be any sort of stumbling block.

“Damon’s been lockstep with Anson for years,” Moros said. “So I would expect things to be really smooth transition as far as coaching changes go. I think that’s probably about as smooth a transition as you could get. So I’m sure the players are right there behind Damon, and they’ve already been working with Damon. They were partly recruited by Damon, and he’s very embedded there. And I’m sure Anson did that deliberately and has his communication and motivational speeches for the players in that transition…he’s probably right there supporting the team and all that. I know that’s a huge strength from Anson. So I’m sure he wants to set Damon up for success, and he wants to see his legacy continue with Carolina being successful at every stage of the game.”

The Tar Heels have been pushed in all three of their matches. Each win came by one goal. It started with a 2-1 victory at Denver, then a 3-2 win at Colorado. UNC is coming off a 4-3 victory over No. 16 Georgia in its home opener.

Arizona has been more dominant in its early wins. The Wildcats have yet to concede a goal and have outscored their opponents 11-0, but they have only faced one team that finished in the top 100 of last year’s RPI. That was GCU, which ended at No. 80 last season. Arizona got the 1-0 win on the road against the Lopes.

The game itself is as important as the result, at least for Arizona. Gone are the days of playing Stanford, UCLA, and USC on the way to a solid RPI propped up by a strong conference. The Wildcats now play in the Big 12, where more than half the teams finished outside the top 100 last year and two were outside the top 200. Arizona does not get a boost from playing Texas Tech this year, which was one of two Big 12 teams to finish in the top 11 of the RPI.

A good result could help Arizona recover from an RPI hit that may be even worse than expected. Several Big 12 teams have started out shaky in nonconference play.

Only the Wildcats and Oklahoma State are 3-0 at this point, although Cincinnati and TCU are both 2-0. Both the Cowgirls and the Horned Frogs jumped into the rankings this week. The concerns are with the other teams.

Big 12 teams have already played to five losses and eight draws. Some of those disappointing results come against teams like Northern Arizona, Little Rock, Creighton, and Drake. All of those teams were outside the top 100 last season.

If Arizona wants to improve on the No. 69 RPI that kept it out of last year’s tournament, playing against teams like UNC before conference is important. Getting a positive result could set the Wildcats on the path toward something special in their first year in a new league.

A good showing in Chapel Hill could also show the Big 12 coaches that they greatly underestimated Arizona when they voted them in a tie for 10th in the preseason poll. Several teams that were picked above the Wildcats are among those who have struggled in the early going.

The match between the Tar Heels and Wildcats is the first of a home-and-home arrangement. UNC is due to visit Tucson in two years.

The match will air on ACC Network at 9 a.m. MST on Sunday, Aug. 25.

Lead photo by Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Athletics