By: Xaiver Aguiar

The Wildcat’s greatest foe is the grey wolf, but after the events on Sunday afternoon, the duck will hold that designation. Oregon stunned Arizona with a 1-0 win as they surpassed their 2019 conference win total. The game was far from smooth, but the result is all that matters.

Arizona played a much different style of soccer than was on display Friday night by their in-state rivals, Arizona State. Whereas the Sun Devils let the game come to them, the Wildcats were far more aggressive. They enacted a full press for a majority of the game, making possession difficult for the Ducks. Arizona too struggled to maintain possession of the ball, making for a methodical game. There were no great scoring opportunities or highlight moments by either side for the first half.

The start of the second half was night-and-day from that of the first. The pace of the game dramatically changed, and the field began to open up. Both sides were able to have flashes into the opponent’s territory, but nothing truly materialized. Then, the game got physical. For thirty minutes, the game had no rhythm and was mainly throw-ins and fouls. All indications pointed to another OT game for the Ducks. Jordan Wormdahl did not care about what looked like was about to happen.

On the counter-attack in the 84th minute, Lexi Romero hit Jordan Wormdahl in stride with a perfect pass. Wormdahl’s shot rolled into the back of the net and proved to be the game-winner. In a post-game press-conference a few weeks ago, she mentioned that “I will do anything to help the team, but scoring goals is fun.” Not many goals can get more fun than the game-winning one.

The Ducks improve to 3-3-2 on the year and are 2-2-1 in conference play. The team’s next game is Friday at 4 P.M in Corvallis for a rivalry game against pesky Oregon State. Oregon is away from Papé Field until April 2nd when they host the Utah Utes.