After a two-game road trip to southern California, the BYU women's soccer team (3-4-1) returns home looking to get back on track with three games beginning Thursday Sept. 23 at 7 pm.m against the Arizona Wildcats at South Stadium. BYU faces Washington State Saturday Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Hawaii Monday Sept. 27 at 5 p.m.
This week's promotions: Thursday's game features 25 cent hot dogs. For Saturday's game, faculty/staff and family admission is $10. Monday is FHE/Family Night.
The Cougars are led offensively by junior forward Jaime Rendich and sophomore forward Annie Zwahlen with a team-high four goals and 12 points each. Another offensive threat on the squad is sophomore Bobbi Tillotson, with one goal and a team-leading four assists. BYU's defense is led by their freshman goalkeeper Erika Woodbury, who has posted a 1.23 goals-against average, and sophomore defender Claire Thomas. The duo have been the major contributors in two shutouts this season.
At South Stadium, the Cougars have a 85-16-2 record.
WEEK IN REVIEW:
The road trip dropped the Cougars under .500 with a tie against USC and a loss to Loyola Marymount. After two ten-minute overtime periods, the physical soccer game between USC and BYU Thursday, ended in a 1-1 tie. Sophomore Annie Zwahlen provided the lone BYU goal early in the second half on a breakaway. The goal was the fourth on the season for Zwahlen.
The Cougars fought hard all game against a larger and faster USC team, but couldn't hold on as USC midfielder Rosa Anna Tantillo scored with just 12 minutes remaining in regulation. Rockwood said she thought the defense played particularly well against a very physical USC squad. Junior transfer Nicole Anderson started her first game for BYU on defense along with Lindsy Humphrey, Claire Thomas and Erika Woodbury.
Ending its two-game road trip to Los Angeles with a 2-1 loss to Loyola Marymount, BYU struggled to find its chemistry and leadership. The Cougars got off to a slow start Saturday against LMU and could never recover. Just 20 minutes into the game, Rockwood made some roster changes, looking for someone to provide a spark off the bench. Alhtough LMU outshot BYU 7-2 in the first half, the score remained tied 0-0.
BYU improved its play in the second half and had multiple opportunities to score, including a 7-1 advantage with corner kicks, but the Lions defense held strong most of the game. In the 47th minute, LMU forward Lori Sims scored the game's first goal with a shot from five yards out. The Lions struck again in the 72nd minute with a goal from forward Kelly Lewandowski, putting LMU up 2-0.
One of the bright points of the game for the Cougars came in the 79th minute when sophomore Claire Thomas headed in BYU's lone goal off a corner kick directed by senior Kimmie Martins. It was the first goal and assist on the season for Thomas and Martins, respectively.
SCOUTING THE ARIZONA WILDCATS:
The University of Arizona women's soccer team (6-1-0) has won its last two games by a combined score of 8-1 over NAU and Duquesne. Freshman goalkeeper McCall Smith played for the Wildcats and had two saves in her fifth shutout of the season. Smith has a remarkable .43 goals-against average for Arizona.
Arizona, led by midfielder Mallory Miller, looks to extend its winning streak to three games against the Cougars. Miller has three goals and seven assists on the season. Forward Kamaya Damwijk leads the team with four goals. Midfielder Nikki David and forward Candice Wilks each have three goals for the Wildcat team that has scored 20 goals over seven games.
HISTORY AGAINST ARIZONA: BYU will play Arizona for the first time in three years. In four contests between 1996 and 2001, BYU is undefeated against the Wildcats with the last victory coming in Sept. 2001 by the final score of 2-0 in Provo.
SCOUTING THE WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS:
Washington State University has strung together three consecutive wins over Northern Colorado 3-2, New Mexico 2-0 and most recently against previously undefeated No. 12 Pepperdine 1-0. WSU's Megan Cecchini broke Pepperdine's sic-game shutout streak Sept. 17 when she scored her first goal of the season.
Junior goalkeeper Katie Hultin has been phenomenal in five games this season with 22 saves and has yet to allow a goal this season. Offensively, the Cougars are led by junior forward Alix Rustrum with three goals. Senior midefielder Cailan McCuchan and freshman forward Brooke Bemis each have two goals to compliment Rustrum.
HISTORY AGAINST WASHINGTON STATE: BYU is 2-0 against WSU with the last contest in Pullman, Washington Oct. 2002 when BYU defeated the Cougars 3-1. These two teams haven't played in Provo since Sept. 2000 in a 3-0 BYU victory.
SCOUTING THE HAWAII RAINBOW WAHINE:
Hawaii has strung two victories together against Long Beach State and Portland State. BYU will be the third team to face Hawaii on its current five-game road trip. Junior Natasha Kai leads the team with five goals and one asssist. Kai is complimented by freshman forward Gabrielle Bohlman with three goals and one assist.
Junior goalkeeper Mahie Atay (3-2-1) leads the Rainbow Wahine in total minutes this season with 518. Her goals-against average is just 1.04 and has tallied 27 saves on the season.
HISTORY AGAINST HAWAII: In four outings against the University of Hawaii, BYU won the first three contests beginning in 1996 and tied the Rainbow Wahine in last year's game at Hawaii, 2-2.
Cougars vs. Cougars
Locally, Saturday's game between BYU and Washington State will be televised live at 7:30 p.m. on KBYU. For those with Dish Network and DirecTV, the game can be viewed live through BYUTV. Live stats are also available online at www.byucougars.com/soccer_w
Woodbury - mwc defensive player of the week
BYU freshman goalkeeper Erika Woodbury was named Mountain West Conference Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week after posting her first two career shutout victories. This is the first career weekly honor for Woodbury and the first BYU player honored this season.
A true freshman from Murrieta, Calif., Woodbury anchored the BYU defense in two victories over Utah State and Gonzaga last week. In the 2-0 Cougar victory over Utah State, she played all 90 minutes in goal, saving three shots. Woodbury saved two more shots in 81 minutes of action, holding Gonzaga scoreless for only the second time this season, in a 3-0 win.
Woodbury began starting for the Cougars in just the second game of the season against a talented Kansas squad. Today, she has a total of 14 saves and a goal-against average of 1.18 in five games.
the assist queen
Sophomore Bobbi Tillotson is leading the team in assists with four and is third on the team in total points with six. Tillotsons' most impressive outing was in BYU's overtime win against Northwestern when she had a hand in all three goals scored. Tillotson scored the first goal of the game and assisted on two other goals to Jaime Rendich an Annie Zwahlen.
Cougar Awards in 2003
National
HERMAN TROPHY NOMINEE: Aleisha Rose
NSCAA ALL-AMERCAN: Aleisha Rose, 3rd Team
NSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICAN: Aleisha Rose, 1st Team
NSCAA ALL-REGION: Aleisha Rose, 1st Team; Nicole Jensen, 3rd Team; Krissa Campbell, 3rd Team
SOCCER BUZZ PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALIST: Aleisha Rose
SOCCER BUZZ ALL-AMERICAN: Aleisha Rose, 2nd Team; Nicole Jensen, Freshman 3rd Team
SOCCER BUZZ ALL-REGION: Aleisha Rose, 1st Team; Nicole Jensen, 3rd Team
SOCCER POST ALL-AMERICAN: Aleisha Rose, 1st Team
SOCCER AMERICA MVP: Aleisha Rose
Conference
MWC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Aleisha Rose
MWC FIRST TEAM: Aleisha Rose, Jennifer Fielding, Krissa Campbell
MWC SECOND TEAM: Terra Bigelow, Claire Thomas, Nicole Jensen
MWC TOURNAMENT TEAM: Aleisha Rose, Lydia Ojuka and Krissa Campbell
MWC ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Aleisha Rose, Britney Holman, Terra Bigelow, Jennifer Fielding, Ashley Smith, Natalie Evans, Katie Gabbart, Claire Thomas, Charlene Lui
MWC ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Brooke Bowman, Aleisha Cramer-Rose, Jennifer Fielding-Henry, Katherine Gabbart, Britney Holman, Charlene Lui, Terra Smith-Bigelow, Jeni Viernes
Last season: 2003 NCAA elite eight
The BYU women's soccer team's NCAA tournament run came to an end at the paws of the No. 18 Connecticut Huskies who defeated the Cougars 3-1 in the Elite Eight.
"We came together and made a good run in the tournament," said Rockwood, "The team played hard today and I am very proud of them."
The Cougars ended the 2003 season with a 16-7-3 mark and earned the program's seventh-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, the school's best showing in the NCAA tournament as one of the team's in the Elite Eight and the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in senior All-American Aleisha Rose.
The game was played in 40-degree weather with winds around 40 mph, on a field that was soggy and muddy from rainstorms the day before.
In the first period the Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Cougars ended the UConn bid for a shutout in the second period but it wasn't enough as the Huskies held on to win 3-1.
Coming out of half time the Cougars battle to get back into the game and in the 63rd minute they got on the scoreboard as Rose's free kick from 20 yards out connected with the head of sophomore Jaime Rendich to bring the Cougars within two at 3-1.
For BYU, the 2003 season will go down as one of the most successful in the program's short nine-year history as the Cougars finish the as one of the top eight teams in the country.
"We had a tremendous season," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "These girls have represented themselves and the school very well."
south stadium
South Stadium is the place the Cougars love to call home, and a home all opponents hate to visit.
For the past nine years, South Stadium Field (formerly South Field), has been the battlefield for the Cougars as the team has taken on, and defeated, the top teams in their conference and in the NCAA.
The Cougars have amassed an 85-16-2 (.846) record at home, a record that is among the best in the nation over the same time period. Of those 84 home-game wins, an outstanding 46 have ended in a shutout.
BYU consistently manages to hold its opponents scoreless when playing at South Stadium with 53.65 percent of all the Cougars' wins ending in shutout victories, while BYU has been shutout only five times in the stadium's history.
Located just south of the Smith Fieldhouse, South Stadium boasts one of the best maintained grass playing surfaces in the NCAA. The Wasatch Mountains serve as a scenic backdrop for the capacity crowd of 3,000 fans. South Stadium is also equipped with state-of-the-art field lights, making night games a favorite among fans.
Consistently among the top 15 in the NCAA, South Stadium packs in some of the largest crowds in the country. With an average attendance of 1,595 fans during the 2003 campaign, the Cougars had the third largest attendance average in the country and the number one average in the west. BYU also packed in a total of 20,737 fans over 13 games, recording the third highest mark in the country and making South Stadium one of the toughest places for opponents to play in women's college soccer today.
the rockwood file
After completing her ninth season, head coach Jennifer Rockwood has taken the BYU women's soccer team to national prominence and established herself as one of the premier coaches in Division I soccer today.
Rockwood currently ranks eighth in winning percentage among active NCAA coaches with an impressive 158-46-6 overall record for her career. Over the last eight seasons, Rockwood has averaged 17.88 wins per year.
Over the past nine years, Rockwood has guided the Cougars to five conference championships. On the national scene, her teams have made seven consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and reached the "Sweet Sixteen" in 1998, 2000 and 2003. The Cougars have maintained a consistent top-25 ranking over the past eight consecutive years. During Rockwood's tenure, the team has had three top-10 finishes including a recent run in the 2003 NCAA College Cup. The tournament ended with BYU finishing No. 5 in the country after making their first "Elite Eight" appearance in the program's ten year history.
Among the many achievements and awards she has received over her career, Rockwood has been honored with two Coach of the Year citations, one by the Western Athletic Conference in 1996, and then by the MWC in 2000. She also became the first MWC coach to eclipse the 100-win total mark when the Cougars shutout Milwaukee-Wisconsin 2-0 on Sept. 23, 2000.
Under Rockwood's tutelage, a long list of All-American soccer players has emerged from BYU's program. These athletes include Aleisha Rose, Jeni Viernes, Michelle Jensen. Among the players who have been coached by Rockwood are four additional All-American athletes that were drafted by the women's United Soccer Association: Shauna Rohbock, Maren Hendershot, Sara Reading, and Staci Reynolds.
Prior to becoming the head coach, Rockwood led BYU's highly successful club soccer team for seven years. In that time she amassed an overall record of 128-25-9, and the final two years she took her teams to the Western National Collegiate Club soccer Association (NCCSA) title and placed second in the NCCSA National Championships.
The Lake Oswego, Ore. native was a four-sport athlete in high school playing soccer, softball, basketball and track. After one year at Rick's College on a basketball scholarship, she transferred to BYU where she became a four-year starter at center midfield on the Cougars' club soccer team and graduated in finance, business management. Rockwood has also coached in the Utah ODP, youth club programs, and at the high school level.
ROCKWOOD, YEAR-BY-YEAR
YearW LTConference
199511 81WAC
199622 10WAC
199719 40WAC
199820 50WAC
199921 40MWC
200019 41MWC
200114 71MWC
200216 60MWC
200316 732nd
2004(3)(4)(1)-------
Total158466(.767)
BYU club team under Rockwood:
128-25-9 (.790), six years (1989-1994)
ROCKWOOD AMONG COACHING ELITE
Rockwood currently ranks seventh in winning percentage among active NCAA Division I coaches with an impressive 158-46-6 (.767) overall record for her career. Anson Dorrance, John Walker, Chris Petrucelli, Becky Burleigh, Jerry Smith and Len Tsantiris are the only coaches ahead of her. Over the last eight seasons, Rockwood has averaged 18.35 wins per year, an average that has her ranked second behind only Anson Dorrance of North Carolina.
Fresh Faces
This season's incoming class of Cougar freshman is expected to make strong contributions to the team, with eight of the eleven recruits hailing from Utah.
Many of the young and talented players have an opportunity to play quality minutes in hopes of making an immediate impact on the team. Midfielder Natalie Nate and Goalkeeper Erika Woodbury, along with the other newcomers look to prove their worth and compete for playing time.
Nate was a first-team 2002 All-State selection out of Salt Lake City, and Woodbury was a first-team All-CIF and All-Valley Player of the Year out of Murrieta, CA.
Among the Utah athletes headed to BYU is the 5A MVP in 2002 Elizabeth Affleck out of Alta High School and the 2003 NCSAA and Adidas National Junior College Player of the Year Nicole Anderson.
"We have a great recruiting class coming in as freshman. We think that some of these confidant and capable freshman can step up for us and play some valuable minutes. As soon as some of our young players get some quality game experience against some very tough opponents in September, it will really help prepare us for the conference season."
Home sweet home
With seven NCAA Tournament participants and four top-25 teams, this year's schedule promises to be one of the most competitive seasons for the Cougar team that finished No. 14 in the NSCAA final rankings last year.
The Cougar women will play a total of 20 games, 10 at home and 10 on the road. At home, the Cougars hope to get on a roll early playing
eight of their first 11 games in the friendly confines of South Stadium.
The team will feature home games against two NCAA tournament participants, opening the season against Kansas and later against Arizona State. Average attendance for last season was third highest in the nation with nearly 1,600 people cheering on the team.
This year's MWC Championships will be played at South Stadium in Provo Nov. 3-6. BYU looks to regain the MWC Championship that they have won four of
In the past home field advantage has paid great dividends for the Cougars as the team has amassed an impressive 85-16-2 record at home. In the those games BYU has managed to shut out its opponent 46 times, while being shutout themselves in only four games.
Cougars Picked Second in mwc preseason
The Mountain West Conference announced its 2004 preseason poll Monday with the league's coaches selecting BYU to finish second behind Utah for the second year in a row.
Three vote separated the Cougars and the Utes in the voting, with BYU totaling 32 points and two first place votes, while Utah grabbed 35 points with five first place votes.
The Cougars return 16 letterwinners (seven starters) from the team that advanced all the way to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. BYU, (16-7-3 overall, 4-2-0 in MWC play) finished the year with a No. 14 ranking and a fifth-place finish in the NCAA tournament.
Team (1st place votes)Points
1. Utah (5)35
2. BYU (2) 32
3. San Diego State 25
4. UNLV 21
5. Wyoming 14
6. New Mexico11
7. Air Force 9
Cougars find success/enjoyment in visit to italy
The BYU women's soccer team traveled to Italy this spring for games against four of the top teams in that country.
Stops were made in Lugano, Switzerland as well as the Italian cities of Lake Como, Milan, Venice, Tuscany, Florence, Pisa and Rome.
BYU kicked off the tour with a game against the U-21 Italian National Champions in Milan on Wednesday, April 27, then against AC Milan on Saturday, May 1. Then the Cougars head to Florence on Tuesday, May 4, to face the U-19 Italian National Team and finished up in Rome on Wednesday, May 5, against Lazio in Rome.
The team enjoyed fantastic food during the trip and took guided tours and cruise rides including one to the Bellagio. The trip highlights included visits to the tower of Pisa, Vatican City, the Coluseum, and numerous museums and cathedrals, giving the girls an opportunity to experience the rich culture in Italy.
Game 1: BYU vs. Riozzese U-21
It ended in a tie game 1-1
Game 2: BYU vs. ACF Milan
BYU was victorious 4-3
Game 3: BYU vs. Italian National Team U-19
BYU was victorious 2-0
Game 4: BYU vs. AC Decimum Lazio Femminile
BYU was victorious 3-2
PRACTICE AND INTERVIEWS
Practice is held weekdays from 1-3 p.m., on Haws Field. Interviews with Coach Rockwood and/or members of the Cougar soccer team are scheduled through the BYU Athletic Communications office. To schedule and interview, please contact Bryce Porter at (801) 422-8999 or by email at soccer_sid@byu.edu.