By Kurt Plaster
Some last-minute heroics Thursday night Sept. 19 gave BYU a 2-1 victory over Cal State Northridge.
BYU sophomore forward Krissa Campbell poked the ball into an empty net with 1:58 remaining.
“I saw the ball go through and I saw Jeni (Viernes) challenging. She always manages to poke a ball out, so I just kept my run going and it ended up right on my foot,” said Campbell.
The Cougars improved their overall record to 3-3 on the year while the Matadors dropped to 1-5.
The Cougars were unable to capitalize on several scoring opportunities in the second half.
BYU out-shot the Matadors 23-10 and controlled the game from the start.
“I think toward the end we got a little complacent, it came back to haunt us and they got a goal but luckily we pulled it out,” said freshman forward Brooke Bowman.
Bowman scored the first goal of the contest at the 23-minute mark on an assist from junior forward Aleisha Cramer-Rose.
“Aleisha played a great ball, so good that the goalie couldn”t hang onto it, so I was just there to tap it in,” Bowman said.
With less than five minutes to play Matador sophomore defender Angie Veliz headed in a corner kick to tie the game at 1-1.
“I was extremely pleased with my team. They showed a lot of heart tonight and I think this was our best game,” Matador head coach Allison Lee said.
She said that this was the fourth game they had lost with two minutes left in the game.
“I think we played much better than we played last week, although we still struggled to score some goals,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
“I think we had a lot more intensity, we played well but now I think we need to work on finishing,” Campbell said.
“We played with a lot more energy, we attacked more. We are on the right track we just really struggle to find the net. Hopefully we will start putting more of those away,” Rockwood said.
This weekend the Cougars travel to Southern California to battle the women of Troy from USC on Saturday at 1p.m.
USC is currently ranked No. 20 in the nation.
“They”re usually good no matter what,” Rockwood said. “We just have to keep working hard, have lots of energy and hopefully good things will happen.”
Next week the Cougars travel back to Southern California to take on UCLA. The Bruins are currently among the top five teams in the nation.
The Cougars next home game will be Sept. 27 against St. Mary”s.
