The race for WCC championship continues as No. 13 BYU women’s soccer fought to a scoreless draw against Santa Clara Saturday night.
Senior night at South Field had fans piling in as the Cougars are still number one in the nation for attendance, and it showed, giving BYU even more of a demanding presence.
Right off the bat, both teams were battling and the tempo was being dictated on both sides of the ball. This continued all the way into the 18th as there were still no shots on goal for either team.
As the game continued, so did the momentum which was growing for BYU. Coming into the early minutes of half time, the Cougars were dominating in terms of numbers at 16 shots, nine shots on goal and two corners compared to the Broncos who were trailing behind at three shots, one shot on goal and a single corner, but still nothing to show for it.
The second half was one-sided as it was all BYU in terms of threat, possession and look. The Cougars were the more aggressive team by far all the way up until the end, as BYU almost scored at the death, but the game ended in a tie 0-0.
“Statistically, things look good and I thought the girls had a lot of good energy, we moved the ball, we kept the ball, we were dangerous,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “Obviously disappointed that we couldn’t put one of those shots in.. but overall a really good performance from us.”
This snapped the Broncos winning streak and will continue the fight for WCC champs as Santa Clara needs to win one of their final two conference games in order to come out on top.
“This game was a good turning point for us. We didn’t get the result we wanted but we came together as a team and we played super well, so going forward we are going to use this momentum to keep us going,” said BYU midfielder Izzi Stration.
BYU will face off against San Diego in California on Wednesday.