Women’s soccer ready for first MWC tournament

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    By JENNIFER GROSKREUTZ

    Women’s soccer shoots into the Mountain West Conference Tournament Wednesday at 2 p.m. The Cougars challenge seventh-seeded Wyoming at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

    If the Cougars beat Wyoming, they’ll play the winner from the Utah-New Mexico game held Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Utah received the third seed, and New Mexico is No. 6. Players on the BYU team hope to play against Utah.

    “This is our chance to beat Utah again. We’re excited,” said sophomore midfielder Jennie Christianson.

    The Cougars also look forward to winning Wednesday and Thursday so they can defeat San Diego State in the championship game.

    “San Diego State beat us the last three times. There’s no way they’re going to do it again,” junior forward Sara Reading said.

    The semifinal game between the BYU-Wyoming winner and Utah-New Mexico winner will be held Thursday at 11:00 a.m. Also on Thursday, the winner from today’s 9 a.m. game, featuring No. 4 Air Force and fifth-seeded UNLV, will face No. 1 San Diego State at 2 p.m. in a semifinal match. San Diego received a bye for the first round of the tournament.

    The championship game will take place Saturday at noon. BYU knows what to expect from its competition in the MWC.

    “We’ve seen all the teams we’re playing, and we’re familiar with them,” said head coach Jennifer Rockwood. She also said the season was ended on a positive note which gave the Cougars a good building base, especially after the tough loss to San Diego State.

    Senior All-American Maren Hendershot hopes to be back at 100 percent for Wednesday’s game. She has a deep muscle bruise suffered during the Harvard game earlier this season that she’s been nursing back to health. She said she thinks the team has been able to play well and refocus in the last couple of weeks which has prepared them for the MWC tournament.

    The Cowgirls face the Cougars on the field after a 2-1 Halloween-day win against Eastern Washington. The win improved Wyoming’s overall record to 4-13-1.

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