The legend of Lainey Burdett reached a crescendo last September.
On a cool night in Palo Alto, the Arizona goalkeeper set a new career-high with 11 jaw-dropping saves to keep the Wildcats within striking distance of the eventual-national champion Stanford Cardinal.
Arizona wound up losing 1-0, but holding the nation’s No. 1 offense to one goal was a remarkable feat, considering Stanford fired 32 shots and Burdett was, well, not herself early on.
“She had the worst warmup in her life, in her career. She was awful,” recalls UA assistant Paul Nagy, “but she had the best game she ever had.