Cougars fall short against Tigers

PROVO, Utah – BYU women's soccer outshot Louisiana State University but came up a goal short in a 4-3 loss on Thursday night on South Field.

“I thought we made a step forward for sure,” BYU soccer coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “Obviously, it’s difficult to lose, but we try to take the positives and we played pretty good soccer tonight. We gave up four goals, which we should never do, but overall I think we made a step in the right direction.”

The Cougars (1-3-2) outshot the Tigers (4-2-1) 16-11 with Ashley Hatch leading the way with five shots, scoring one and putting three on goal. Michele Murphy added four shots with two on goal. Marissa Nimmer and freshman Nadia Gomes each finished with a goal.

Murphy started the game with a shot at the goal in the second minute that went just over the crossbar and another in the 20th minute that went into the hands of the LSU goalie.

In the 22nd minute, LSU scored the first goal of the game, but was followed by a goal by Nimmer on an assist by Elena Medeiros in the 23rd minute to tie it back at 1-1.

Elisabeth Phillips had a shot on goal in the 35th minute, but was saved by the keeper. The Tigers scored their second goal in the 38th minute that went out of Katherine Snyder’s reach to take the 2-1 lead at halftime. Despite being down at the half, BYU outshot LSU 9-6.

Ten minutes into the second half, Stephanie Ringwood had a chance to tie it but shot wide. LSU had three chances on corner kicks, but two were saved by freshman goalie Hannah Clark, who started in the second half, and the third bounced off the post. 

BYU’s second goal came in the 62nd minute when Niki Fernandes passed to the corner of the box to Hatch who dribbled past a couple defenders and shot to the right side of goal. Two minutes later, LSU answered back on a penalty kick and another goal in the 79th minute to take a 4-2 lead.

Gomes cut LSU’s lead to 4-3 on a goal that hit the bottom left post and bounced in during the 85th minute. Clark followed it up with a great save in the same minute to keep the deficit at one, but the Cougars couldn't find another goal.

“We have to keep working hard,” Rockwood said. “I think we changed a lot of things that we’ve done in the last couple games. Phillips and Nimmer were very good, so I was really proud of our midfield tonight compared to our game in Utah – it was night and day.”

The Cougars stay on South Field to play Long Beach State on Saturday at 7 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and simulcast on BYU Radio on Sirius XM channel 143. The Cougar IMG Sports Network will broadcast the game live on BYUcougars.com and the BYU Cougars app.