Reserves help sweep Arizona schools

The Husky bench came up big this weekend as the UW women's soccer team swept the Arizona schools. The 16th-ranked Huskies shut out Arizona 2-0 at a rain-drenched Husky soccer field Friday before walking away with a 2-1 overtime victory over Arizona State Sunday. The winning goals in both games came courtesy of Husky reserves.

The Huskies and Sun Devils remained locked in a scoreless tie until midway through the second half Sunday when junior defender Vanessa Pierce sent a 22-yard free kick into the upper left corner of the net at 77:47. The kick came after freshman Nicole Martinez was knocked flat by ASU's Amy LePeilbet just outside the box, earning LePeilbet a foul and a yellow card.

The Sun Devils answered back just less than four minutes later when Antoinette Marjanovic capitalized on a free kick of her own at 81:05. Marjanovic's kick from 40 yards out found the lower left corner of the net, beating Husky goalkeeper Hope Solo and tying the game at one apiece.

The game remained tied through the remainder of regulation time and into the sixth minute of overtime when the UW's reserve forward Melissa Bennett netted the game-winner at 95:46. The sophomore's back was to the goal when she received a throw-in from junior Megan McKinstry, spun around and sent a 15-yard shot just inside the right post. With the win, the defending conference champion UW improved to 10-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10. ASU falls to 8-8, 2-4.

"I haven't really been shooting all that much, so I've just been trying to shoot a lot," Bennett said. "I knew I had time to turn and to shoot. It's usually shots like that that goalkeepers aren't expecting."

The goal was Bennett's second in as many contests, as she entered the game in the 62nd minute on Friday and scored just over 10 minutes later off an assist from sophomore Blair Ruport.

"I think the challenge has kind of been put to our attacking players that if it's not going to always come from one person, somebody's got to step up at some point in time," said Husky coach Lesle Gallimore. "And I think that Melissa Bennett has been kind of challenged, and this weekend, in both games she's obviously risen to the challenge and it's been great to see."

The winning goal in Friday's game had come inside the final minute of the first half when senior Gina Brewer -- the Huskies' only other substitute in the contest -- sent a 25-yard blast off the crossbar and into the goal.