Last season, Arizona soccer (2-3-1) ended the season ranked No. 239 in Division I in goal differential at -6. With Big 12 play still to come, the Wildcats are No. 188 with a -1 goal differential. That's lower than their first opponent this week.
Northern Arizona (2-3-1) comes into Thursday's match ranked No. 159 with a +1 differential.
NAU is a team Arizona head coach Becca Moros and her Wildcats see a lot. Not only do the two teams play each other during the regular season most years, but they also face off during spring games.
If the last regular season game between the two is any indication, Arizona should have the opportunity to get itself right against the Lumberjacks. The Wildcats edged past NAU by the score of 1-0 in an exhibition in Flagstaff last season, but they had much more success when the two teams met in Tucson during the regular season two years ago. That match was a 5-0 Arizona victory. The last time the Wildcats scored five goals was almost exactly a year ago when they defeated GCU 5-2 on Sept. 14.
Last week's match against Dartmouth proved that it may not be so easy, though. Moros and her players felt they did enough to win that match, but they didn't capitalize on their chances. They outshot the Big Green 14-1 and had a 5-1 edge in shots on goal, but Dartmouth's only shot went into the net.

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