PROVO, Utah – An offensive battle was decided by a game-winning goal in the 54th minute in a 3-2 exhibition match win for the No. 19 Cougars against the Arizona Wildcats Saturday evening at South Field.

Back from her 18-month mission, junior defender Paige Hunt took a pass from Nadia Gomes and buried a shot in the back of the net past keeper Lainey Burdett for BYU's third goal of the night.

“It’s always good to start out the season with a win,” head coach Jennifer Rockwood said.  “It was a really tough battle and Arizona was a tough team to play. We rarely give up that many shots on our goal, but we scored three goals. We just have to clean our defense up a little bit and we’ll be ready to go.”

On the defensive end, junior goalkeeper Rachel Boaz had eight saves at the end of the night for the Cougars, including a diving save in the 84th minute to keep the lead. Despite the high pressure from Arizona, the Cougars were able to make big defensive plays to secure the win.

Two early goals for the Cougars gave BYU a 2-1 lead at halftime. Junior forward and MAC Hermann trophy candidate Ashley Hatch scored the first goal for the Cougars in the 15th minute. Midfielder Elena Medeiros received a pass from Jocelyn Loomis and found Hatch on the left side. Hatch sent a hard, low pass to the right just out of reach of Arizona keeper Rachel Estopare.

BYU’s second goal came courtesy of a cross from sophomore Madie Lyons in the 36th minute. Lyons took the free kick from the left sideline and found Brittain Dearden’s head after both players had just subbed in.

Arizona’s Lexe Selman had the first goal for the Wildcats in the 44th minute after a deflection from Boaz. The second goal for the Wildcats came from Laura Pimienta in the 49th off a corner kick.

The Cougars will head to Hawaii next week to play in the Outrigger Resorts Soccer Classic. They will play No. 18 California on Friday, August 21 at 4:30 p.m. HST. The game will be broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network and ESPN 960 AM.

BYU vs. Arizona Game Notes

PROVO, Utah – No. 19 BYU women’s soccer hosts Arizona on Saturday, August 15 at 7 p.m. on South Field.

The Cougars are coming off a 3-0 Blue victory in the Blue/White game on Tuesday, while Arizona played its Red/Blue game last Friday with the Red team winning 1-0.

BYU was picked to win the West Coast Conference which would make four straight WCC titles. Ashley Hatch and Michele Murphy Vasconcelos were chosen to the All-WCC Preseason Team for the second time in each of their careers.

The Wildcats were picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 by the coaches a year after making the second round in the NCAA tournament.

The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv. The radio call can be heard on ESPN 960 and the Cougar IMG Sports Network on BYUCougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. The radio pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m.

For tickets, visit BYUTickets.com or call the BYU Ticket Office at (801) 422-2981. Because ROC passes haven’t been distributed, students with a valid student ID will be admitted for free. It is also a Pass of All Passes game.

The first 1,000 fans through the gates on Saturday will receive a pass good for free full-day admission to Seven Peaks Waterpark in Provo or Salt Lake City.