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Thursday night the BYU women's soccer team traveled to San Francisco and came out with a win. On a night that saw the wind blowing, BYU scored two goals and the defense pitched another shut out. BYU now sits at 7-3-1 while San Francisco drops to 5-6-2. This was the fourth game in the series with the Cougars winning all four. This is the fourth straight loss for San Francisco and the sixth game in a row without a win.
1st Half
BYU dominated first half from the beginning. The Cougars scored in the 5th minute when Niki Fernandes scored off the assist by Ashley Hatch and Cloee Colohan. While playing strong defense, and not allowing San Francisco to take a shot in the first half, the Cougars continued to be the aggressor. BYU ended up with eight shots, with five on goal, and no fouls. BYU scored their second goal of the night in the 41st minute when Cloee Colohan slipped a nice shot past the goalkeeper on an assist by Miranda Bailey. With a 2-0 lead going into the half, the Cougars were in a great position to continue their streak of not losing a conference game since 2011, before they were in the WCC.
2nd Half
San Francisco started the second half more aggressive but still couldn't get the ball past Erica Owens as they were not even awarded with a shot attempt until the 70th minute. The Cougar defense allowed the Dons to stay on the BYU side of the field for the first couple minutes but then locked down and stifled San Francisco. Even when awarded consecutive corner kicks, the Dons were unable to generate a shot on goal. The Cougars had a couple of chances to add to their lead with less than 15 minutes in the match but one shot hit the cross bar and the other was cleared from the box. Time and time again the Cougar defense stole the ball or cleared it when the Dons entered the BYU side of the field. BYU was content to let their offense take chances when the opportunities arose but were less aggressive as they ran the clock down for the win.
With the win, current head coach Jennifer Rockwood now has 300 career victories. The Cougars dominated the stats as they led with 14 shots (eight on goal), and the Dons ended with one shot (with zero on goal).
Next Game
BYU will next play at #18 Santa Clara on Saturday, October 12 at 2 pm MDT. This game will be streamed on TheW.tv