No. 5 BYU Women’s Soccer beats Long Beach State 3-0

#5 BYU women’s soccer beat Long Beach State in California on Thursday evening by a score of 3-0.

The Cougars came into the match 8-0 on the season, but struggled to show their dominance in the first half of the game. While they took more shots in the half, they did not overwhelm Beach.

However, BYU has shown dominance in the second half of their matches in recent games, and Thursday evening was not exception. The Cougars came into the half strong, and it paid off when a low cross from freshman Sara Jayne Affleck was tucked into the near post by fellow freshman Ellie Maughan for her first career goal in the 55th minute.

The Cougars didn’t let up after the goal, and their high press provided a second goal for BYU when Elise Flake intercepted a back pass and chipped a shot over Beach goalkeeper Ashley Seymour in the 60th minute.

BYU would continue their second half dominance, and found one more goal in the 85th minute. A strong cross by Lytiana Akinaka from the right side was volleyed into the net by Senior Ella Ballstaedt for her second goal of the season. The Cougars have scored 25 goals in their 9 matches and have given up just one on a penalty kick at Mississippi State.

BYU goalkeeper Sabrina Davis recorded her seventh shutout of the season, with Cassidy Smith holding the one other against Kansas State. The Cougars will return to Provo after two weeks away to host UC Irvine in their final non-conference match.