BYU Women's Soccer: Utes beat Cougars on penalty kick

On a beautiful afternoon for soccer, the BYU women's soccer team traveled to Salt Lake City to take on in-state rival University of Utah.  The Cougars came into the game looking for only their second win on the season and some semblance of an offense that matches their talent.

The first half provided a number of scoring opportunities for the Cougars, but as in games past, they were unable to finish and put points on the board.  BYU played aggressive and led the Utes in shots, and shots on goal at the half, but missed opportunities and arrant shots continued to plague the Cougars.  BYU had their best shot slip past Lindsey Luke but an offside call took the points off the board and away from Ashley Hatch. Utah had their opportunities as well, but Katherine Snyder was able to keep the ball in front of her and played tough defense.  Unlike last game, neither team could find the net before the half ended and the teams went to the locker room scoreless.

The second half started off similar to the first as BYU came out aggressive and tested Luke, but couldn't find success in the net.  Utah had a few shots but very few were on goal early, so the game continued to be a defensive battle.  BYU had a few more opportunities but Luke made sure that nothing made it past her.  BYU ended with 13 shots to Utah's 11, while Utah led the shots on goal six to five. Utah had a golden chance to take the lead in the 83rd minute as the Cougars were called for a hands on the ball about 20 yards out of goal but the ensuing kick hit the crossbar.  Shortly after this the Utes were given a penalty kick as Hannah Clark came out of the box, ending in a Utah goal by Katie Taylor.  It appeared that the Cougars were a bit deflated after this as they really couldn't put together a strong counter and the game ended in the 1-0 loss.  BYU drops to 1-2-2 while the Utes move to 4-0-1.

BYU will next play on September 11th at 6pm MDT at South Field against LSU.  The game will be available on theW.tv.