BYU ties with Washington State in home opener

PROVO, Utah – The No. 22 BYU women’s soccer team played Washington State to a 0-0 stalemate in the Cougars' home opener on Monday night at South Field.

Neither team could get the ball in the goal after 110 minutes of play. BYU (0-0-2) is now 16-1-3 in home openers. Washington State is 1-0-1 in its second game of the season.

“I thought we did some really nice things and I thought we came out really strong in the second half and had some good opportunities,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “We just didn’t reward ourselves with the good attack in the early stages of the second half where I thought we had some opportunities.”

This was BYU's second overtime game and second tie of the season. In the entire 2013 season, the Cougars played in one overtime game and one tie game, both happened in the same game against Oregon on the road.

There were a total of 17 shots, 10 from BYU and seven from Washington State. Niki Fernandes led the Cougars with three shots in the first half. One of those attempts came in the 17th minute when Fernandes had a good look at the goal. Washington State goalkeeper Gurveen Clair saved it and avoided another goal attempt when BYU forward Jaiden Thornock shot it too high.

Washington State forward Cara Wegner had a close shot in the 11th minute, but BYU goalkeeper Katherine Snyder saved it to keep the game scoreless at the end of the first half.

The second half picked up where the first half ended. Both teams were aggressive, each having early shot attempts. Late in the half, Washington State took three corner kicks, all of which were cleared by BYU defenders. Washington State outshot BYU in the 2nd half 6-5.

Both teams took desperation shots in the last two minutes of regulation. Fernandes crossed the ball to Nadia Gomes who kicked it wide left of the goal. Washington State's Sofia Anker-Kofoed sent the final shot of regulation sailing over the goal. The end of regulation came with the game still tied 0-0, forcing overtime.

There were just three shot attempts from each team in overtime.  Fighting fatigue, both teams battled to the end, desperate to break the tie and walk away the winner. After a game with 34 total shots, the score was still 0-0 at the end.

"We're obviously disappointed we didn’t get the results at home, but I thought we did some really great things out there tonight,” Rockwood said. “And it’s a good step in the right direction.”

Fernandes and Ashley Hatch led BYU with four shots each. Snyder led the defensive effort with four saves.

Two BYU players made their debut in this game. Freshmen Rachel Bingham and Madie Lyons played their first minutes in a Cougar uniform. They are two of eight freshmen on this year's roster.

The Cougars kept their home unbeaten streak alive, pushing it to seven games in a row. The attendance at South Field on Monday night was 2,255.

BYU is going back on the road to face Tennessee on Friday, August 29 at 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.