The 2009 Mountain West Conference Women’s Soccer Championships will be held today through Saturday at South Field.

The first rounds of the tournament will take place on Wednesday, the semifinals will be on Thursday, and the championship game takes place on Saturday at noon.

The BYU Cougars are the No. 1 seed in the tournament, finishing first in the regular season with a 6-0-1 league record (16-2-2 overall). BYU has been the No. 1 seed in the MWC Tournament four times (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2008) and has won the championship title in each of those four years.

The Cougars this year are led by freshman Carlee Payne, who has scored 12 goals and taken 46 shots, scoring in 12 of BYU’s 20 games. Sophomore goalie McKinzie Olson recorded her 10th shutout win of the season in BYU’s final game of the season against Wyoming.

BYU and No. 2 San Diego State both received a quarterfinal bye and a spot in the semifinals, so as the top seeds they will not play any games until Thursday.

San Diego (12-3-5, 5-0-2) has not dropped a match in the team’s last 13 games. The Aztecs’ 13-game unbeaten streak is the longest in a single season in school history.

San Diego is led by Cat Walker, who has 10 goals and 3 assists, and Jessica Gordon, who has 5 goals and 2 assists.

The first MWC quarterfinal game will take place today at noon between No. 3 Utah and No. 6 TCU.

Utah (9-9-2, 4-2-1) holds a 4-2 all-time record against TCU. In its last match, Utah captured a 3-1 victory at Ute Field on Oct. 15.

TCU (9-9-0, 2-5-0) is led by sophomore forward Jordan Calhoun (8 goals and 6 assists) and senior forward Lizzy Karoly (5 goals and 1 assist).

“I have a lot of respect for TCU’s team, they have some tremendous talent,” Utah head coach Rich Manning said in a statement. “I think Karoly and Calhoun are two of the best forwards in the conference and are capable of scoring a match-winner at any moment.”

The second quarterfinal game will be played at 3 p.m. between No. 4 New Mexico and No. 5 Wyoming.

The New Mexico Lobos (12-4-3, 4-3-0) lost to Wyoming in Albuquerque this season. This is Wyoming’s first appearance in the MWC tournament since 2007. Wyoming is lead by Carmen Blume (4 goals and 3 assists).

All-session tickets and single-game tickets for the MWC Women’s Soccer Tournament are now on sale online at byutickets.com or by calling the BYU Marriott Center ticket office at 800-322-BYU1.