Underclassmen taking on bigger roles as Arizona soccer prepares for No. 9 North Carolina

When Arizona soccer made its trip to Chapel Hill to face the North Carolina Tar Heels two years ago, many of its players were not yet on the team. The combination of time and the loss of several players from the junior class mean it’s mostly the seniors who remember that game. It’s not their focus, though.

“I think everybody’s excited to have them here with our fans and in our community and on our field, and that that’s just kind of a special feeling,” said Arizona head coach Becca Moros. “So I don’t think anybody’s really reflecting back to there, but I do think it was a value in terms of those seniors know what that level was, and they knew from that point on, and I think that’s really really helpful.”

Arizona had a fairly good showing against UNC that season, losing 2-0 on the back of a superb outing by goalkeeper Olivia Ramey. Moros hasn’t said anything about that to the players who will be seeing the Tar Heels for the first time, but they do know what to expect.

“North Carolina will be very aggressive in the attack on the dribble,” said Wildcat sophomore Kyleigh Johnson. “They dribble a lot, and so I think we need to just have good organization, which is what we’ve been working on in the back line, and just be able to go out there and put pressure on them whenever we can, and finish whatever chances we can get.”

When: Saturday, Oct. 11 @ 1 p.m. MST

Where: Mulcahy Soccer Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.

Johnson and fellow sophomore Mireya Stephenson will likely be important when it comes to finishing those chances. The pair is responsible for the last three goals scored by Arizona. Stephenson’s two scores gave Arizona the comeback win at Gonzaga two weeks ago. Johnson’s first career goal salvaged the neutral field draw against LSU last week in Tempe.

Johnson hasn’t got a lot of playing time so far this year, but she has shown offensive aggression when she gets time on the field. She’s one of only four Wildcats to score this season.

Stephenson leads the team in goals (2), shots on goals (5), and points (4). She’s tied with junior Lily Boydstun for the lead in shots taken (9). Her .556 SOG percentage is second on the team behind junior Jessica Bedolla.

Getting that first career goal out of the way was a big deal for Johnson. It came with the help of another sophomore, Ally Brown. It was the first assist for Brown since she transferred to Arizona in the offseason.

“Great cross from Ally,” Johnson said. “She did a lot of work on the flank to be able to put a good ball across the net, and then I had a chance earlier in the game that I wasn’t able to finish, so I knew I had to finish that one and get that one in the back. But it felt really good to just have the work that I’ve been putting in in practice translate into a game.”

Stephenson was expected to be a big part of the Arizona offense this season. Moros mentioned her in June when asked who would step in to fill the shoes of several of the forwards who transferred out.

Stephenson has two starts in Arizona’s four matches and has played roughly half of each match. She’s starting to show what Moros saw in her during the spring.

“I think spring was really good because I felt a lot more freedom and sort of like less pressure, and then kind of using that time to develop,” Stephenson said. “I think towards the beginning of this season, I was in a very different role than I had been this time last year, and it was kind of messing with me a little mentally in the beginning. And so kind of regaining that confidence through practices and some game experience definitely helped me to where to get back to where I feel like I was in the spring.”

Moros is looking for just her second win over UNC as either a coach or player. This is her sixth opportunity. She scored the game winner against the Tar Heels during her junior year at Duke. The match in 2005 came against a UNC team ranked first in the country.

“At that time, I mean, North Carolina had like seven gold medalists on their team,” Moros said about her four years at Duke. “You know, Lindsay Tarpley was there, (Lori) Chalupny was there, Heather O’Reilly was there, Cat Reddick was there. I mean, it was just like littered with national team, international superstars. So the game was more lopsided in the college game then than it is now…But yeah, I mean, I had a a really good game, and the team had an incredible game on Dorrance Field at that time, and it’s just a special memory for me. We lost every other matchup against them my entire career, so too bad for them on that one.”

This year, the Tar Heels have played two close matches and two blowouts. They handled Fairfield and Quinnipiac by a combined score of 12-0 in their first two matches. They won a 2-0 matchup at Arkansas before returning home to lose to No. 5 Michigan State 3-2 on Aug. 23.

UNC is returning from a trip to Dublin, Ireland that it took less than a week ago. It defeated Shelbourne FC 3-0 in an exhibition on Friday, Aug. 28.

Arizona had one of its largest crowds in history for its only other home match this season. That was an Aug. 15 match against New Mexico State. The ‘Cats drew 1,124 fans, their 10th-largest crowd in program history. They’re hoping to better that against the Tar Heels. The program is urging fans to wear red.

Arizona State will face Dartmouth in a neutral field match at 4 p.m. MST on Thursday prior to the Arizona-UNC match.