Cougars start conference play

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After two weeks without any action from opponents, the BYU women’s soccer team is ready for its first conference game today against the University of Portland, winner of the last four conference titles.

The team is also looking to break the old attendance record of 4,742, set in 2006 when BYU played Colorado.

Head coach Jennifer Rockwood said the Cougars are thrilled to finally begin conference play are expecting to face some stiff competition.

“Starting our conference games is something we have been looking forward to for a long time,” Rockwood said. “The conference has done very well during the preseason and all of the teams are performing at a very high level. We just have to be our best and we definitely look forward to opening at home.”

Lindsi Lisonbee moves the ball down the pitch during a recent match against Miami. The Cougars begin their WCC season at home against Portland on Thursday.

Junior defender Lindsi Lisonbee agreed the team is looking forward to this next part of its season but said it’s not going to be easy.

“We are super excited to play our first conference game against Portland,” Lisonbee said. “They are a really good team and we have a lot of work to do from here on.”

Rockwood said BYU has been focusing on certain aspects of real-game situations during practices, and she is confident the team is prepared.

“We have been scrimmaging a lot and letting the girls play,” Rockwood said. “We have also spent some time in front of the goal and on technical training. I think we are prepared as we can be going into our conference games.”

Although the team will continue to practice and prepare for its matches, Rockwood said the team knows what needs to be done in order to win.

“The girls have had some great training the last two months so I think they all know what we want them to do — they just need to go out and do it,” Rockwood said. “I told them I wasn’t going to be harping on the same things anymore because they know what to do.”

The Portland Pilots come to Provo with a 5-5-1 season record, having played ranked teams, including No. 1 Stanford, No. 8 Florida and No. 28 Oregon State.

The University of Portland has also won the past four conference titles.

The Cougars head into conference play with a 6-3-2 record and have won their past two games.

The game will be at 7 p.m. on South Field, and fans who are not able to make it to the game can watch live stats on the BYU women’s soccer website.

 

 

 

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