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PROVO -- A Kassidy Shumway goal at the 68-minute mark of the second half proved to be the game-winning score as the No. 18 Cougars defeated the Southern Utah Thunderbirds for a 3-2 victory Wednesday at South Field.

The victory was BYU’s fourth consecutive and snapped a three-game unbeaten streak for Southern Utah.

"I felt the team got off to a great start,but we still need to find some consistency in our overall effort and play," said head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "I give a lot of credit to Southern Utah as they battled hard and capitalized on their opportunities."

Shumway’s goal, her second of the year, came off an assist from freshman Carlee Payne as she was able to get behind the Thunderbird defense and put the ball past SUU goalie Breana Fitzgerald.

The Cougars got off to a quick start just five minutes into the game when Payne whipped the ball past the Thunderbird goalie on a breakaway assist from Jessica Ringwood for an early 1-0 lead. The freshman, now with her eighth goal of the season, has scored in seven of the team’s 10 games.

“Carlee is doing really well in her freshman season,” Rockwood said. “She makes everyone work harder and she’s playing with a lot of confidence right now along with gaining valuable experience.”

At the 30-minute mark, Alyssa Vander Veur lined up for a corner kick and landed the ball in the center of the field, 20 feet in front of the goal, where the ball was juggled around for a bit. Senior defender Andrea Willis got a hold of it and knocked it in with a powerful left-footer for a 2-0 Cougar lead, her first goal of the season and first from a defender.

The Thunderbirds got on the scoreboard when forward Rachel Krenzer snuck behind the BYU defense and drove the ball past a diving McKinzie Olson to cut the score to 2-1.

At the half, the Cougars led with eight shots to SUU’s three and had three corner kick attempts to zero for the Thunderbirds. The two goals in the first half by BYU marked the first time they have scored more than once in the first half.

Ten minutes into the second half, Southern Utah’s Michelle Judd took control of the ball after a struggle in the BYU box and put it into the corner of the net to tie the score at two apiece but it wouldn't be enough to outlast the Cougars.

BYU finished with 21 shots and 11 corner kicks for the night.

The Cougars improve to 7-2-1 for the season while Southern Utah falls to 2-5-1. BYU returns to South Field hosting Utah State Saturday at 8 p.m.

“There’s still a lot to learn, but we continue to get better each game and show improvement,” Rockwood said. “It’s good to be back home and we hope to play well against a good Utah State team Saturday night.”

Live stats for Wednesday and Saturday night’s games can be found through the women’s soccer schedule page.

Live audio can also be heard with Kristen Kozlowski on BYU Radio.

Join the official BYU Women’s Soccer Texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive game times and promotions, such as 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

To receive up-to-the-minute updates about each game, follow the BYU soccer team on twitter at www.twitter.com/byusoccer.

For ticket information, visit www.byutickets.com or call 422.BYU1

Special promotions

Sat Sept 26th vs Utah State @ 8pm

-First 500 fans receive the Nicole Urry-Gilliam “I AM BYU” poster, number 4 of 8 to be released throughout home schedule

-Show your Colorado State football ticket to get in FREE to soccer game

Soccer Box Score (Final)
                               BYU COUGAR SOCCER
            SUU vs #18 Brigham Young (Sep 23, 2009 at BYU PROVO UT)
SUU (2-5-1) vs.                                   Goals by period       1  2  Tot
Brigham Young (7-2-1)                            -------------------------
Date: Sep 23, 2009  Attendance: 1497              SUU.................  1  1 -  2
Weather: CLEAR SKIES, GOOD WEATHER                Brigham Young.......  2  1 -  3
SUU                                                 Brigham Young
Pos ## Player                Sh SOG  G  A           Pos ## Player                Sh SOG  G  A
------------------------------------------          ------------------------------------------
GK  25 Breana Fitzgerald...   -   -  -  -           GK  32 OLSON, McKinzie.....   -   -  -  -
D   3  Kristen Fronk.......   -   -  -  -           F   3  ANDERSON, Lauren....   4   3  -  -
F   4  McKenzie Hadley.....   -   -  -  -           F   7  PAYNE, Carlee.......   5   3  1  1
MF  6  Laura Goodrich......   -   -  -  -           MF  8  KONING, Mercede.....   -   -  -  -
MF  10 Riley Bassett.......   -   -  -  1           D   11 Willis, Andrea......   1   1  1  -
MF  11 Michelle Judd.......   1   1  1  -           F   13 BARTHOLOMEW, Stacy..   -   -  -  -
MF  12 Makell Southworth...   -   -  -  -           MF  15 KAKADELAS, Kelsea...   -   -  -  -
D   13 Allison Goettsche...   -   -  -  -           D   18 LISONBEE, Lindsi....   1   1  -  -
F   14 Erin Marble.........   -   -  -  -           F   21 SHUMWAY-C, Kassidy..   2   2  1  -
D   16 Rachel Krenzer......   1   1  1  -           F   22 RINGWOOD, Jessica...   2   1  -  1
D   17 Jennifer Johnson....   -   -  -  -           F   23 VANDER VEUR, Alyssa.   3   1  -  1
     ---------- Substitutes ----------                   ---------- Substitutes ----------
    5  Elyse Alexander.....   1   1  -  -               9  MARSHALL, Jennie....   1   1  -  -
    9  Morgan Bridge.......   -   -  -  -               14 JAMESON, Ashleigh...   1   1  -  -
    15 Jessica Yukihiro....   -   -  -  -               16 JANIS, Auna.........   1   -  -  -
    19 Emily Belnap........   1   1  -  -               20 DOW-JACKSON, Kristi.   -   -  -  -
    21 Amanda Lazcano......   -   -  -  -               25 URRY-Gilliam, Nicole   -   -  -  -
    23 Shelby Ostler.......   -   -  -  -                  Totals..............  21  14  3  3
       Totals..............   4   4  2  1
SUU                                                 Brigham Young
## Player                 MIN  GA Saves             ## Player                 MIN  GA Saves
---------------------------------------             ---------------------------------------
25 Breana Fitzgerald...  90:00  3    11             32 OLSON, McKinzie.....  90:00  2       
Shots by period       1  2  Tot                     Saves by period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------                    -------------------------------
SUU.................  2  2 -  4                     SUU.................  3  8 - 11
Brigham Young.......  8 13 - 21                     Brigham Young.......  1  1 -  2
Corner kicks          1  2  Tot                     Fouls                 1  2  Tot
-------------------------------                     -------------------------------
SUU.................  0  0 -  0                     SUU.................  7  2 -  9
Brigham Young.......  3  8 - 11                     Brigham Young.......  1  4 -  5
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL   Time Team     Goal Scorer              Assists               Description
----------------------------------------------------------------
 1.    3:24 BY    PAYNE, Carlee (8)      RINGWOOD, Jessica  
 2.   14:59 BY    Willis, Andrea (1)     VANDER VEUR, Alyssa        Corner kick
 3.   43:54 SUU   Rachel Krenzer         (unassisted)
 4.   52:30 SUU   Michelle Judd          BASSETT, Riley
 5.   68:36 BY    SHUMWAY-C, Kassidy (2) PAYNE, Carlee
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
Officials:
Offsides: SUU 0, Brigham Young 4.

PROVO -- The No. 17 BYU women’s soccer team, after two weeks on the road, is home to play on South Field Wednesday against Southern Utah at 7 p.m. and Saturday against Utah State at 8 p.m.

The Cougars (6-2-1) hold an overall 116-24-8 home record.

Freshman Carlee Payne leads the Cougar offensive with 22 shots and seven goals this year. Payne has scored a goal in six of BYU’s nine games this season and leads the MWC in the number of goals scored per game and the total number of goals scored this season. Payne has already garnered her first Player-of-the-week award for Sept. 14.

Payne was recently named to TopDrawerSoccer.com’s team-of-the-week after her two goals against Northwestern for the win and the only assist in their victory against Arizona.

Sophomore goalie McKinzie Olson has totaled 884 minutes for the Cougars and recorded three shut-out wins over Arizona, William & Mary and top-ranked Oklahoma State.

BYU holds a 4-0 record against Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds comes to Provo with a 2-4-1 record and are currently on a three-game unbeaten streak after defeating Utah Valley and Westminster, and tying with Murray State. Riley Bassett leads the Thunderbirds with 21 shots and two goals this season.

The Aggies are coming to South Field with a 4-4-1 record this year and a 0-6 all-time record against BYU. Shantel Flanary leads the team with 23 shots and four goals.

BYU’s Payne and Utah State’s Allie Maduell were high school teammates at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, California. This will be their first game played against each other since being on the same team.

Live stats for Wednesday and Saturday night’s games can be found through the women’s soccer schedule page.

Live audio can also be heard with Kristen Kozlowski on BYU Radio.

Join the official BYU Women’s Soccer Texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive game times and promotions, such as 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

To receive up-to-the-minute updates about each game, follow the BYU soccer team on twitter at www.twitter.com/byusoccer.

For ticket information, visit www.byutickets.com or call 422.BYU1

Special promotions for this week's games

Wed Sept 23rd vs SUU @ 7pm

-First 500 fans receive the Alyssa Vander Veur “I AM BYU” poster, number 3 of 8 to be released throughout home schedule

-Students with blue foam on body/face from TRUE BLUE FOOTBALL event earlier in day, get in FREE to soccer game

Sat Sept 26th vs Utah State @ 8pm

-First 500 fans receive the Nicole Urry-Gilliam “I AM BYU” poster, number 4 of 8 to be released throughout home schedule

-Show your Colorado State football ticket to get in FREE to soccer game