The No. 5 BYU women’s soccer team lost 2-1 in a late goal to the No. 20 University of San Francisco Thursday night.
BYU began the night with a quick goal in the 15th minute by Madie Lyons giving the cougars an excellent advantage at the beginning of the game. This was Lyons first goal of the year. But from there on out it was all USF who outshot BYU 15-2 and held the Cougars to zero shots for the next 62 minutes.
“They changed their formation in the second half and just really came after us,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “It made us just a little too panicky and we didn’t settle down. Hopefully, it’s a really good lesson for us to learn.”
USF was able to capitalize on their shots in the 71st minute off of a penalty kick. The foul was heavily disputed but the referee stood by his call. USF placed the penalty kick past BYU’s keeper Rachel Boaz making the score 1-1.
The next goal came 10 minutes later in the 82nd minute when there was a slide tackle in the box making the ball pop out in the open green. USF player Jessica Nakae took advantage of the open space and buried the ball in the far corner of the net making the score 2-1 for USF with eight minutes left in the match.
This is the Cougars first loss in the WCC.
BYU was only able to find five shots on goal led by Elena Medeiros who had two.
BYU will stay in California to face Santa Clara on Saturday at 1 p.m.
