LAS -- The Cougars are hoping that what happened in Vegas, doesn't stay in Vegas.
BYU continued to show great signs of improvement on both sides of the ball this past weekend in Las Vegas, winning two of three games, including a 1-0 victory over Utah in the UNLV Invitational.
In the first game against UC Riverside (13-2-4 last season), BYU attacked early and often, defeating the Highlanders 4-0. Sophomore Annie Zwahlen scored the game's first goal, assisted by junior Jaime Rendich and sophomore Bobbi Tillotson. The Cougars struck again on a cross by sophomore Brooke Bowman to freshman walk-on Jessica Aquino, for her first career-goal.
Zwahlen connected again on a nice combination play with Tillotson to put BYU up 3-0. The final goal was scored by freshman Elizaeth Affleck, or "Boo", as she is known to her teammates, when she stole the ball from the UC Riverside defender and found the back of the net, for her first career goal.
BYU outshot UC Riverside 25-1 during the full 90-minute game. BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood credits the offensive outburst to a new formation being used, that gives the team another player on offense.
"We made a bit of a shift in our system," said Rockwood. "It's mostly to try to help the offensive players be more productive. It allows us to play with three forwards and get more numbers up. We're very pleased with the results."
In the second game, BYU defeated the University of Utah 1-0 on a cross by Tillotson to freshman Carolyn Swenson, who controlled the ball and shot it past Utah's goalkeeper into the corner of the goal from six yards out.
This exhibition win marked the first time BYU faced Utah since the last game of the regular season in October, when the Cougars defeated the Utes in Salt Lake City, 2-1. Rockwood liked the intensity BYU showed on the offensive end.
"I thought we played very well. Of course the game was only one half, 45 minutes, but our new system allowed us to put a lot of pressure on them and we had many other chances to score besides the one goal by Carolyn."
In the third and last game, BYU lost 2-1 to UNLV, last year's MWC Champion. The lone BYU goal was scored when junior Charlene Lui dribbled in past four defenders and passed to Zwahlen, who scored her third goal of the day.
Tillotson also stood out Saturday, totalling three assists. Despite the loss to UNLV, Rockwood said she liked the overall play of the team and specifically the defensive effort by sophomore Jenavieve Phillips, junior Nicole Anderson and freshman Alison Haymond.
"I think that our confidence level is rising. The team has been working really hard. We really try to take advantage of the days we get to play. The girls were excited to play today and they played extremely well. I'm really pleased with our effort, attitude and performance."
The three BYU goalkeepers who split time in the box were freshman Erika Woodbury, sophomore Natalie Evans and junior Ashley Smith.
The Cougars hope to continue this encouraging team play Saturday at Murphy Stadium in Tucson, Arizona for two games against the University of Arizona at 3 and 6:30 p.m.