SPOKANE, Wash. – Five second-half goals led the BYU women’s soccer team to a 6-3 win over Gonzaga at Luger Field Thursday night.
"That was a crazy game and I didn't expect nine goals to be scored," BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "It's never easy here at Gonzaga, especially with the emotion of playing against Chris Watkins. It was nice to see it pay off in front of the goal tonight. It was a lot of fun and I thought they really deserved this win.”
The Zags (10-6-1, 2-5) got on the board first in the fourth minute when Jodi Ulkekul finished a dangerous cross in the box, blasting the ball off the near post and into the back of the net.
The momentum shifted in the 34th minute when BYU's (6-6-4, 3-2-1) Elise Flake sent a through ball to freshman Cameron Tucker who slid the ball past Gonzaga goalkeeper Isabel Jones, scoring her third goal of the season and tying the game at one-all.
After being tied 1-1 at halftime, the second half saw seven goals between the two teams.
Within 63 seconds in the second half, three goals were scored. The first came from BYU freshman Mikayla Colohan who received the ball from Rachel Bingham and scored from outside the 18-yard box in the 60th minute. In the 61st minute, Gonzaga’s Hope Tsuneyoshi scored off a corner kick and 15 seconds later Flake answered with a goal of her own to give BYU a 3-2 advantage.
Madie Lyons Mathews added a goal of her own in the 67th minute after she received a through ball from Colohan, giving the Cougars a 4-2 lead.
A penalty kick was awarded to Gonzaga in the 70th minute. Despite BYU goalkeeper Hannah Clark getting her hands on the ball, Jordan Thompson converted to bring the Zags back within one goal.
Colohan scored her second goal of the game in the 74th minute, firing from outside the 18-yard box to the left side of the goal, extending the lead back to two goals with a score of 5-3.
Nadia Gomes joined in on the scoring fest, giving BYU a 6-3 lead in the 81st minute when Avery Walker set her up just outside the six-yard box.
At the end of the game Clark recorded seven saves and the Cougars outshot the Bulldogs 23-16.
The Cougars continue conference play at Portland on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. MDT. Live stream will be available on TheW.tv and the game can be heard on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143) and ESPN 960 AM.