Arizona Soccer Looking to Get Back to NCAA Tournament

Becca Moros took the coaching job for Arizona soccer in 2021 after Tony Amato left the program to coach at Florida. What was once a team that consistently made the NCAA Tournament has yet to get to that point since Moros took over, but the team did take strides last season after finishing the year 11-6-2.

The Wildcats seemed to be on track to make it back to the postseason until back-to-back losses to Houston and Kansas ultimately put them on the outside looking in. 

Looking at the changes this season, Arizona lost its top goal scorers in Gianna Christiansen and Nicole Dallin who each scored eight times last year. They also lost Nyota Katembo who appeared in 18 games last year with 13 starts and Megan Chelf who started all 19 games and played the most minutes (1423) on the team. 

The Wildcats have a mix of returners and transfers on the team this year. Moros brought in Lily Boydstun who appeared in nine games as a freshman at Arkansas last season and Aurora Gaines who played in 15 games as a freshman at LSU.

Among the returners are Zoe Mendiola who appeared in all 19 games last season as a freshman with 14 starts. She was one of eight players to be on the field for over 1,000 minutes last year. UA also returns sophomores Narissa Fults, Kennedy Fletcher and Rose Calkins who could be entering bigger roles for the Wildcats. 

Arizona returns its goalkeeper from last season in Oliva Ramey for her senior season. She started all 18 games she appeared in last season, saving 79 percent of the shots attempted against her. 

The Wildcats also return senior defenders Maia Brown, Ella Hattenberg and midfielder Sami Baytosh. 

Brown and Hattenberg were both top-6 on last year’s team in minutes played and figure to bring that experience into this season to help this upcoming team. 

The 2025 season opens on the road against Northern Arizona on August 5. The non-conference schedule includes two former Pac-12 foes in Stanford and Cal on the road before the Wildcats start Big 12 play on September 18 on the road at Iowa State. UA will host the two teams who finished at the top of the conference last season in TCU and Texas Tech later in the season in October. 

The big question for the program will be if they can build off the winning season last year and get back into the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time since 2019 and for the first time under the leadership of Moros.