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PROVO, Utah –The BYU women’s soccer team controlled from start to finish in a 2-0 victory over the University of Arizona at South Field on Monday.
"I was really pleased with the way the girls played today," Rockwood said. "Some of the things we’ve been talking about in the last couple weeks finally came together so I was really happy with how everyone played and I thought it was a great game for us."
Junior Lindsi Lisonbee, an All-American listed on the Hermann Trophy Watch List, set the tone early with a goal in the 20th minute. The Cougars crossed the ball to the middle of the box where there was a frantic dash for a clear by Arizona. However, the ball ended up at the feet of Lisonbee, a defender, who put it into the back of the net.
"I just followed up on that and was lucky to get it in," Lisonbee said. "I was really excited to get one this season because I’ve been wanting one and it felt good to get one for the team."
The Cougars would not let up as just 20 minutes later Kyleigh Royall drilled the ball past the Arizona keeper for the second BYU goal. Both the goal for Royall and Lisonbee were firsts on the season.
After the break, the ball belonged to the Cougars. Arizona rarely pushed the ball across midfield and was outshot 14-2 in the second half, 21-5 over the whole game. The 21 shots by the BYU are the second most this season, one behind the season high.
Plenty of scoring opportunities fell the Cougars way during the second half, but nothing found the goal. In the 65th minute BYU unleashed a flurry of shots at the Wildcats keeper, but each time they were denied. Late in the second half, Auna Doria split three defenders but shot it right at the goalie.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 4-1-1 as Arizona falls to 0-4.
The next game for the Cougars is Saturday, September 10th at 7:00 p.m. on South Field.
The first thing for us was recognizing our defensive responsibilities. We were a little confused in the last couple games on who we were matching up with so we figured that out right away. We were also working on our two-touch play in moving the ball around.
It’s really helpful that we can play a lot of different people on our roster. Cami has gotten some good minutes in the last couple games and she played really well today. Annie also got good minutes today and our forwards in Kayla and Jaiden too. We’re looking really solid coming off the bench and that’s important for us as we move through the season.
Lindsi is a huge part of our program. She’s such a tremendous player, so composed and so fast, so quick. We rely on her so much defensively, obviously, but it’s also nice when she can come up on set pieces and corner kicks, and get goals for us. She’s definitely a threat from anywhere she is on the field.
Lindsi Lisonbee, junior defender
This was a great game for us and we finally got some rhythem, we played really well together as a whole. From here, we stay positive and move forward through each game while supporting each other. We’re really excited for conference play coming up, it’s going to be some great competition.