By Kurt Plaster
With a six-game road trip on the horizon, the women soccer team”s win over St. Mary”s gave the team a confidence boost.
“I think tonight was a good step in the right direction. Hopefully we”ll play well and with some confidence and we can get a couple of wins on the road,” head coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
The Cougars broke a 1-1 tie in double overtime to win 2-1 and end the team”s two game losing streak.
With 1:48 left in the second and final overtime, junior defender Annie Hoecherl headed a perfectly delivered corner kick from junior All-American Aleisha Kramer Rose for the game winner.
“I felt like I was finally going to get one after three or four tries before that. It was like slow motion, like no one else was there. It was crazy,” said junior forward Annie Hoecherl.
In a game the Cougars needed to bolster their confidence, the struggling Cougars ended a two game losing skid.
I think we came out with a lot more intensity than we usually do,” freshman forward Brooke Bowman said.
This season BYU has been shutout four times, two more than in the previous eight years, and they have yet to win away from home.
This year they have also suffered from an uncharacteristic scoring drought scoring just eight goals in ten games.
“I think we are going in the right direction now. We picked things up and played with a lot more emotion,” junior forward Terra Bigelow said.
1,352 fans witnessed the lengthy battle. BYU moved one game closer to the .500 mark to 4-5 while the Gaels dropped to 3-5-1. The Cougars play Washington St. Thursday and Montana on Saturday.
In the first half the Cougars took a 1-0 lead on Kramer-Rose”s second goal of the season.
She snuck the ball just to the right of St. Mary”s keeper and Soccer America”s 2001 MVP Ruth Montgomery.
“We finally got off to a solid start,” Rockwood said.
In the 63rd minute the Cougars allowed the Gaels to score when junior forward Jennifer Barbara poked the ball by cougar keeper Ashley Smith.
In the remaining minutes of the game the crowd saw BYU miss several opportunities to take the lead. Again in the first overtime the Cougars had several opportunities but could not find the net.
Brooke Bowman single handedly out shot St. Mary”s 9-8 but never got one past the keeper. Several other Cougars attacked the St. Mary”s net including six shots by Jennifer Fielding, and four a piece by Krissa Campbell, Jeni Viernes and Kramer Rose.
“We were able to play our game. It was kind of like the good old days and we haven”t seen that this year,” Rockwood said.
“The girls have done a good job of remaining positive when it”s been difficult,” Rockwood said.
