By Ronell Hugh
The BYU women''s soccer team (12-4-1, 4-1-0 MWC) struck gold as it picked up a 5-1 win against the University of Wyoming Cowgirls on Thursday, Oct. 23., at South Stadium.
'This game was a big confidence builder, and we were able to score some goals,' said coach Jennifer Rockwood.
The Cowgirls (9-7-0, 4-1-0 MWC) came into the match against BYU as the leaders of the Mountain West Conference.
The Cougars came out strong and applied a lot of pressure looking for the first goal.
'Tonight we were able to settle the ball down and play how we wanted to play,' Rockwood said.
The first goal came in the 7th minute. Senior Lydia Ojuka streaked down the right side of the field and crossed the ball in.
The ball bounced off a couple of players and rolled out to All-American Aleisha Rose, who settled the ball and rocketed it to the back of the goal from 18 yards out.
The goal fell to senior Jennifer Fielding in the 8th minute. Fielding collected a loose ball from senior Terra Bigelow and drilled it into the net.
The third goal was scored by senior Terra Bigelow, who collected a loose ball and placed it into the bottom right corner of the net in the 35th minute.
Freshman Kristen Stagl scored the first goal for Wyoming from 18 yards out in the 40th minute.
The Cougars finished the first half with 13 shots on goal.
The Cougars tallied their fourth goal in the 56th minute. Sopohomore Jamie Rendich found the loose ball and nailed it into the back of the net.
Senoir Lydia Ojuka dribbled through two Wyoming players and curled the ball around the goalie into the back of the net in the 76th minute to score the last goal.
The Cougars finished the game with shots on goal.
With this win, the Cougars move into second place in the chase for its fifth Mountain West Conference Championship.
Freshman defender Claire Thomas started in the game after suffering a concussion in the game against UNLV on Saturday.
The Cougars next match will be against the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine on Monday, Oct. 27, in Honolulu.