SALT LAKE CITY -- Behind the offensive push of junior Krissa Campbell, the No. 2 seed BYU women's soccer team (13-5-2) defeated the No. 7 seed Air Force Falcons (7-11-1) 2-0 in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Campbell, who earned first-team All-MWC honors this season, came up big for the Cougars as she notched a goal and an assist in a game that was played under blizzard like conditions at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Krissa has really stepped up her level of play on offense for us," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "She gave us a good push today and was a big part of our win."
Wednesday's game marked the first time BYU has played in the first round of the MWC Tournament in three years as the Cougars had previously received a bye for winning the regular season title.
With the win, the Cougars advance to the semifinal round and one step closer to the MWC Championship game where the winner receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In Wednesday's game, the Cougars came out slow, but managed to get things going and outplayed the Falcons on both sides of the ball as BYU out shot the Academy 14-3 and recorded the team's eighth shutout of the year.
"We played well," said Rockwood, "I was a little concerned with how we started, but the girls picked it up and executed our game plan the way we had prepared."
In the first period, the Cougars dominated possession of the ball refusing to allow the Falcons much of a chance at the goal. With strong offensive and defensive play, BYU out shot Air Force 5-1, took a 3-1 advantage on corner kicks and ended the first half up 1-0.
The Cougars struck with the first goal of the tournament in the first period of the game when Rose took a corner kick from the right side of the field and found senior Lydia Ojuka whose header floated into the upper left-hand corner of the Falcon goal beyond the reach of two defenders.
In the second period of action BYU came out strong by attacking the goal once again and getting rewarded with the second goal of the game in the 50th minute when Campbell drilled in a shot from 18 yards out off a pass from Ojuka.
The goal was Campbell's fourth on the season and helped to seal the victory for the Cougars.
The decision was made to move the tournament from Ute Field to Rice-Eccles Stadium due to snow, making field conditions unplayable. However, the move also forced a game-time change for BYU and Air Force, pushing kickoff back to 11:15 a.m. from the scheduled 9:00 a.m. as they cleared the snow off the football field and painted the lines.
The remainder of the MWC Tournament is scheduled to be played at Rice-Eccles with BYU competing in the semifinals that get underway at 2:00 p.m. (MDT) on Thursday, Nov. 6, against the winner of the Wyoming (No. 3) and New Mexico (No. 6) game.
The Automated ScoreBook For Soccer
Air Force Academy vs Brigham Young (Nov 05, 2003 at Salt Lake City)
Air Force Academy (7-11-1, 1-5-0 MWC) vs.
Brigham Young (13-5-2, 4-2-0 MWC)
Date: Nov 05, 2003 Attendance: 83
Weather: 32 degrees, snow fluries
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
Air Force Academy 0 0 0
Brigham Young 1 1 2
Air Force Academy
Pos ## Player Sh SOG G A
GK 0 J.J. Wolf 0 0 0 0
M 2 Cookie Day 1 1 0 0
D 4 Ashley Parker 1 0 0 0
F 7 Raegan McDowell 0 0 0 0
F 10 Jennifer Rowland 0 0 0 0
M 11 Leigh-Anne Withers 0 0 0 0
D 13 Katherine Plichta 0 0 0 0
M 14 Meredith Benson 0 0 0 0
D 15 Amanda Cleland 0 0 0 0
D 22 Janie Larned 0 0 0 0
M 24 Jennifer Ford 0 0 0 0
Substitutes
5 Marci Freund 1 1 0 0
8 Stephanie Brown 0 0 0 0
9 Brittney Perkowski 0 0 0 0
12 Elaine Tatarek 0 0 0 0
16 Erin Fitzpatrick 0 0 0 0
18 Lindsay Temes 0 0 0 0
33 Jennifer Monson 0 0 0 0
Totals......... 3 2 0 0
Brigham Young
Pos ## Player Sh SOG G A
GK 0 SMITH, Ashley 0 0 0 0
F 8 BIGELOW, Terra 0 0 0 0
F/M 9 CAMPBELL,Krissa 7 3 1 1
D 10 JENSEN, Nicole 0 0 0 0
F 11 RENDICH, Jaime 2 1 0 1
M/D 13 THULIN, Brooke 1 0 0 0
M/D 16 LUI, Charlene 0 0 0 0
M 17 ROSE, Aleisha 2 1 0 1
D 19 HOLMAN, Britney 1 0 0 0
F/M 20 OJUKA, Lydia 1 1 1 1
D 25 THOMAS, Claire 0 0 0 0
Substitutes
2 ANDERSON, Amberlea 0 0 0 0
4 KING, Davia 0 0 0 0
5 GABBART, Katie 0 0 0 0
6 ZWAHLEN, Annie 0 0 0 0
12 TILLOTSON, Bobbi 0 0 0 0
18 ASAY, Courtney 0 0 0 0
22 MARTINS, Kimberly 0 0 0 0
Totals......... 14 6 2 4
Air Force Academy
## Player MIN GA Saves
0 J.J. Wolf 71:16 2 3
33 Jennifer Monson 18:44 0 1
Brigham Young
## Player MIN GA Saves
0 SMITH, Ashley 90:00 0 2
Shots by period 1 2 Tot
Air Force Academy 1 2 3
Brigham Young 5 9 14
Corner kicks 1 2 Tot
Air Force Academy 1 2 3
Brigham Young 3 0 3
Saves by period 1 2 Tot
Air Force Academy 1 3 4
Brigham Young 1 1 2
Fouls 1 2 Tot
Air Force Academy 4 4 8
Brigham Young 5 2 7
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team ## Goal Scorer Assists
1 13:29 BY 20 OJUKA, Lydia 9 CAMPBELL,Krissa/17 ROSE, Aleisha
header from 5yds off on left corner
2 54:37 BY 9 CAMPBELL,Krissa 11 RENDICH, Jaime/20 OJUKA,
Lydia
10 yard shot from center of field to the
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
Officials: Referee: Sandra Hunt; Asst. Referee: Jeff Young; Arthur Banning;
Alt. Official: Bill Marsh; Scorer: Marcus Malmberg;
Offsides: Air Force Academy 1, Brigham Young 2.