After beating Utah 2-1 last Saturday, BYU fans will have to wait two weeks until they can watch their women's soccer team take the pitch again. This time their opponent will be WCC foe St. Mary's, signifying that conference play has officially begun.
'Just fine-tuning everything that we have been working on thus far in the season... putting goals in the back of the net and being able to stay together as a unit on defense,' forward Olivia Wade said of the team's focus for the remainder of the season. 'Continue trying to figure out what we want to do moving forward, what we want our main identity to be as a team... throughout the process of scoring lots of goals and playing some good defense is obviously a big part of that.'
The Cougars struggled to finish strong in games against Arkansas, Colorado and Utah State with all three opponents scoring late in the second half to tie. The Cougars seemed destined for the same outcome against the Utes when Utah tied the game in the 89th minute, but the Cougars scoring in the final minute of that game has given them the confidence they need to move into WCC play.
'It's going to come down to us working hard those last five minutes, not letting up... and not giving hope to the other team by not scoring,' forward Rachel McCarthy said.
Now that the regular season is over the Cougars look to carry their momentum into WCC play. Being that this is the last season for BYU before going to the Big 12, the team has high aspirations for how they want to say farewell to the WCC.
'It's more excitement than anything because this is our last year in the WCC,' McCarthy said. 'So we want to go out with a bang so just finishing strong in the WCC and then heading into the Big 12 with a lot of strengths.'
With one week of practice over and another week until St. Mary's, the Cougars are making sure to use this time effectively to be ready to give the WCC their best shot on their farewell tour.