Women Cougs shut out Gonzaga for second soccer win

    133

    By Brandon Smith

    With solid team defense and steady offensive pressure, the BYU women”s soccer team earned its second straight victory with a 3-0 shutout win against Gonzaga on Friday at South Stadium.

    The Cougars played one of their best all-around games so far this season and proved they are capable of beating talented teams from competitive conferences.

    BYU handed Gonzaga just its second loss of the season. The Cougars moved to an even mark of 3-3, while Gonzaga dropped to 3-2.

    “Our defense just played extremely well,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “We wanted to play nice and safe in the back and that was the difference. We didn”t make any big mistakes.”

    The Cougar defense allowed just one shot in the second half after holding the Bulldogs to three attempts in the first 45 minutes.

    “I thought [defender] Claire [Thomas] played very solid the last two games,” Rockwood said. “She”s only a sophomore, but she”s the leader of the pack back there.”

    Junior Lindsy Humphries, a walk-on transfer from the University of Washington, got the start at right defender for the Cougars.

    “Lindsy did a nice job with the start tonight,” Rockwood said. “We had a lot of help off the bench.”

    A total of 15 players came off the bench over the course of the game for BYU. Freshman forward Carolyn Swenson came in the game as a substitute and scored her first career goal in the 78th minute.

    “It felt good to finally put one in,” Swenson said. “The one special thing about this team is that we keep improving every game.”

    The Cougars opened up the scoring in the 23rd minute when junior forward Jaime Rendich sent a volley past Gonzaga goalkeeper Ashley Haugen. The ball zipped across the goal box on an acrobatic flip throw-in by sophomore forward Annie Zwahlen, who received credit for the assist.

    Zwahlen tallied the second goal in the 55th minute on a nice hustle play after Gonzaga failed to clear the ball out of the defensive end.

    A solid team performance by BYU kept Gonzaga frustrated during most of the game.

    “BYU did a real good job on the opportunities they created and finished,” Gonzaga head coach Shannon Stiles said. “They”re one of the more individually talented teams we”ve run into so far, and probably the best team we”ve played.”

    The Cougars will get some much-needed rest after playing five games over the past 12 days. They next face USC on Thursday in California for only their second road game of the season.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email