A very slow first half was the ultimate downfall for the Cougars Thursday night against the Arizona Wildcats.

Donned in their pink and gray breast cancer awareness uniforms, the WSU soccer team fell to the Arizona Wildcats 0-2 under the lights of the Lower Soccer Field.

The loss extended the Cougars winless conference record, dropping them to (0-4-0.)

The first half of the game was a struggle for the Cougars both offensively and defensively. Arizona took immediate possession, putting heavy pressure on WSU defenders right out of the gate. The Wildcats had taken three shots on goal by the 6th minute of play.

Arizona junior forward Paige Crouch put the Wildcats on the board in the 11th minute by heading the ball off a free kick and past WSU senior goalkeeper Ella Dederick. The Wildcats kept their momentum rolling and in the 16th minute junior midfielder Gabi Stoian sent a low drive past Dederick for a second Arizona goal.

WSU was not able to find a clear shot on goal, taking zero shots after 20 minutes on the field. Arizona continued to dominate possession throughout the half and kept the Cougars scoreless by the end of the first 45 minutes.

“Energy is one thing and results are something else and obviously it didn’t work because we didn’t score,” Head Coach Todd Shulenberger said, “We got out competed, pretty simple. We can come out and fight all we want but we need to do our job the first half.”

The Cougars had a fierce entrance in the second half when freshman forward Morgan Weaver took a shot on goal in the first couple seconds after kick off. Weaver was shut down by the goalkeeper, but took another shot immediately after and was shut down by an Arizona defender.

WSU offense aggressively looked for their first goal of the game, challenging Arizona defense with 12 shots in the half. The Cougars ultimately outshot the Wildcats 18-13 for the game.

WSU senior midfielder Kailiana Johnson took five shots but was unable to find the back of the net. Senior forward Amy Neal had several scoring opportunities as well, taking three shots for the Cougars.

Intensity rose in the final minutes of the game, resulting in yellow cards for both WSU sophomore forward Alysha Overland and Arizona senior midfielder Jaden DeGracie-Bailey.

Though WSU was able to keep the ball on Arizona’s end of the field for the majority of the half, the Cougars were unable to make the connection that would equalize the score or pull them ahead.

“They had a bad half, we’ll regroup and be ready for Sunday,” Shulenberger said.

The Cougars will look ahead to Sunday when they take on the Arizona State Sun Devils at 1 p.m. on the Lower Soccer Field.