Arizona, Colorado soccer battle to scoreless draw in Boulder

Death, taxes and an Arizona-Colorado soccer game requiring overtime.

The Wildcats and Buffaloes played to a scoreless draw in Boulder on Friday, the fifth time in the last six years that they needed extra time to determine a result.

It’s not like the match was devoid of scoring chances. The teams combined for 44 shots, with Arizona holding a slight 23-21 edge. CU had a 7-2 advantage in corners.

The Wildcats have not beaten Colorado since 2013 but came agonizingly close to coming up with the golden goal in the 108th minute when Jill Aguilera and Madison Goerlinger had prime chances deep in the box but could not tap a shot past the Buffalo goalkeeper and a horde of frantic defenders.

Colorado had similar luck in the 59th minute, seeing a header and several rebounds ping off the crossbar, the post and a few UA defenders along the goal line before being cleared out.

That wasn’t long after a streaking Aguilera almost knocked in a pass from Jada Talley, a connection that had been so fruitful entering the weekend.

The Buffaloes almost struck in the 85th minute, but UA keeper Hope Hisey punched a header over the bar. The sophomore had seven saves to post her sixth clean sheet of the season.

Arizona now sits a 8-4-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the Pac-12 heading into Sunday’s road game at Utah, where they played to a scoreless draw last season.

Facing another team lowering than them in the conference standings, the Wildcats could use a win to bolster their NCAA Tournament hopes. They entered the week seventh in the Pac-12. Only four or five teams are expected to make the condensed 48-team field.

After Utah, Arizona will close the regular season at ASU next weekend.