BYU women's soccer (6-9-4 and 2-1-2 in MWC) will finish the regular season with the last of five games on the road this Saturday at 1 p.m., when they travel north to Salt Lake City to face Utah (11-4-2 and 3-1-1 in MWC) at Ute Field. Live audio will be available for Saturday's game by going to the schedule on www.byucougars.com/soccer_w. Temporary bleachers have been added on the northwest side of the field to accommodate BYU fans next to their team bench. For tickets, call 801-581-8849.
Saturday's game will feature the only two teams that have ever won the MWC title. BYU won the title the first four years and Utah won it last year. The conference standings at the end of the season will determine each team's seed in the MWC Tournament, to be held in Provo beginning Nov. 3. BYU seeks to regain the MWC Championship that it has won four of the last five years.
Last week, both BYU and Utah played the same two teams. BYU lost to Wyoming 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 21, and defeated New Mexico 1-0 in overtime on Oct. 23. Utah defeated the Lobos 2-1 on Oct. 21, and Wyoming 2-0 on Oct. 23.
The Cougars are led offensively by junior forward Jaime Rendich with nine goals and two assists for 20 points on the season. Rendich has scored in four straight games and is complimented by sophomore forward Annie Zwahlen with four goals and two assists for 10 points. Another offensive threat on the squad is sophomore Bobbi Tillotson, with one goal and a team-leading eight assists. BYU has been slightly outscored by a slim 24-22 margin, despite gaining a 262-195 advantage in shot attempts.
BYU's defense is anchored by its freshman goalkeeper Erika Woodbury, who has posted a 1.10 goals-against average with 66 saves in 18 games this season, and sophomore defender Claire Thomas. The duo have been major contributors in seven shutouts this season. Defensively, the Cougars have improved steadily throughout the season with large contributions coming from Lindsy Humphrey, Rachelle Dixon, Nicole Anderson and Haylee Cuthbert.
SCOUTING THE UTAH UTES:
The Utes are 11-4-2 overall and in fourth place in the Mountain West Conference with a 3-1-1 record. Last week, Utah defeated the Lobos 2-1 Oct. 21 and Wyoming 2-0 Oct. 23.
Offensively, the Utes are led by sophomore forward Amanda Feigt with five goals and four assists and freshman forward Chelsea Card, also with five goals, Junior forward Kim Lloyd leads the team in assists with eight. Sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Mason has a 0.54 goals-against-average with 54 saves in 14 games this season. Head coach Rich Manning has a 40-10-7 record in her third season at Utah.
HISTORY AGAINST UTAH: BYU leads the all-time series over Utah 12-3-0 and has a 5-2-0 record in games played in Salt Lake City. The Utes have won the last three games against the Cougars. In the last meeting, BYU lost 2-0 in the MWC Tournament championship game Nov. 8, 2003 in Salt Lake City.
WEEK IN REVIEW:
BYU Falls 3-2 in OT to Wyoming
After coming from behind to tie the game at 2-2, BYU lost in overtime to Wyoming 3-2 Thursday, Oct. 21, at UW Soccer Stadium.
The Cougars fell behind 1-0 just 12 minutes into the game when Wyoming's Mercy Adetoye scored her sixth goal of the season. Wyoming continued the offensive pressure and in the 31st minute, extended its lead to two goals on a score by Lindsey Vossbrink. Wyoming held a slight 11-7 shot advantage over BYU going into halftime.
Coming out strong to start the second half, BYU sophomore Courtney Asay scored her first goal of the season in the 71st minute, assisted by sophomores Claire Thomas and Bobbi Tillotson. The team leader this season in goals scored for the Cougars, junior Jaime Rendich recorded her eighth goal of the season just three minutes later on a pass from Tillotson. Tillotson leads the team with eight assists. Both defenses played strong in the closing minutes, pushing the game into the seventh overtime this season for the Cougars.
Wyoming won the game just three minutes and 26 seconds into overtime on Adetoye's second goal of the game.
Cougar goalkeeper Erika Woodbury finished with nine saves off 23 Cowgirl shots. Wyoming outshot BYU 23-20 in the game, despite the 8-1 advantage BYU had on corner kicks.
BYU Wins 1-0 in OT
Just two minutes into the first sudden death overtime period, forward Jaime Rendich's penalty kick gave BYU's women's soccer team a 1-0 league victory over New Mexico Saturday, Oct. 23.
Rendich, the team's leading scorer picked up her ninth goal of the season to give the Cougars a 2-1-2 record in the MWC and 6-9-4 overall.
Both league teams played evenly during the first half of play with the visiting Cougars taking in a two-shot advantage nine to seven after the first 45 minutes of action.
In the second half, BYU continued with a strong offensive presence but could not get the ball in the net forcing the eighth overtime game of the season and the fourth in conference play for the Cougars.
Bobbi's world
Sophomore Bobbi Tillotson leads the team with six assists and is third on the team with eight total points. 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.
Overtime for the cougs
This season, 90 minutes just isn't enough time for a BYU women's soccer game. In eight games this season, BYU has played into overtime, with four of the games reaching double overtime. Last year's team previously held the record with five games that reached overtime.
stacking up in the MWC
In team statistics as of Oct. 25, BYU ranks second in shots (13.68 per game), third in points (3.42 per game), tied for third in goals (1.16 per game), third in assists (1.11 per game), fifth in goals against average (1.19 per game), fifth in saves (3.84 per game), third in shutout (7), second in fouls (11.26 per game), first in corners (5.42 per game), first in offsides (3.11 per game),
Individually as of Oct. 25, Jaime Rendich is third is shots (3.05), first in points (20), first in goals (9), first in game-winning goals (4), and third in shots. Krissa Reinbold is fifth in shots (2.21 per game). Bobbi Tillotson is seventh in points (0.53 per game), and tied for first in assists (8). Annie Zwahlen is seventh in points (10), and tied for sixth in goals (4). Erika Woodbury is fifth in saves (67), third in shutouts (6), and sixth in goals against average (1.10)
Cougars to host Mwc championships
BYU will play host to the 2004 Mountain West Conference Championships Wednesday Nov. 3- 6 at South Stadium in Provo. The following is a breakdown of the three-day tournament. The winner of the Championship receives an automatic bid into the 2004 NCAA Women's College Cup Championships which begin Thursday Nov. 11.
Opening round: Wednesday, Nov. 3, @ 2, 4:30 & 7 p.m.
Semifinals: Thursday, Nov. 4, @ 4:30 & 7 p.m.
Finals: Saturday, Nov. 6, TBA
Times for these games will be provided at a later date.
Reinbold, Woodbury - mwc players of the week
Senior forward Krissa Reinbold and freshman goalkeeper Erika Woodbury of BYU were named Mountain West Conference Players of the Week Oct. 12 for women's soccer. Reinbold, who earned offensive player recognition, received her first career award, while Woodbury and San Diego State's goalkeeper Sophia Perez share defensive player honors. It was Woodbury's second weekly award this season.
Reinbold, from Folsom, Calif., posted the game-winning goal during Senior Night in Provo, Oct. 9, in BYU's 1-0 victory over UNLV. Reinbold scored the game's only goal late in the second half to help the Cougars defeat a UNLV team currently ranked No. 10 in the West Region.
Woodbury has posted three consecutive shutouts, including two last week to open conference play. The freshman from Murrieta, Calif., helped the Cougars earn a 0-0 tie against San Diego State, Oct. 7, and the aforementioned 1-0 victory against UNLV, Oct. 9. She now has six shutouts on the season and a 0.95 goals-against-average. Woodbury made seven saves in the two contests combined.
BYU'S YOUNG GUNS
A number of freshman, one transfer and one walk-on have played big minutes for the Cougars, stepping in their first season and contributing to a team that lost seven starters. Freshmen Carolyn Swenson has scored two goals and Natalie Nate has scored once. Junior Nicole Anderson transferred from Dixie and has played key minutes on defense. Junior defender. At the anchor of the defense is freshman Erick Woodbury, who posts goals-against average of 1.06 with six shutouts. BYU added 10 freshman to this year's team.
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 86-18-4 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.
As of the beginning of 2004, Rockwood 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(6)(9)(4)-------
Total158466(.767)
BYU club team under Rockwood:
128-25-9 (.790), six years (1989-1994)
ROCKWOOD AMONG COACHING ELITE
As of the beginning of 2004, Rockwood 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 expect 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 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 play a total of 20 games, 10 at home and 10 on the road.
The team featured home games against two NCAA tournament participants. BYU opened 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 86-18-4 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 coaches selected BYU to finish second behind Utah for the second year in a row in the preseason polls.
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 (four 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.