Colohan and Hatch lead No. 19 BYU over Pacific

BYU vs. Pacific Photo Gallery

PROVO, Utah – Cloee Colohan and Ashley Hatch recorded a goal and an assist to lead BYU women’s soccer to a 3-1 victory over Pacific on Thursday night at South Field.

The Cougars (13-4-1 overall, 7-1-0 West Coast Conference) recorded 14 shots in the match and held the Tigers (4-11-3 overall, 3-4-1 WCC) to just six.

Highlights

“In the first half, I thought our midfielders and defenders did a great job. But we were unable to be as dangerous as we would have liked to have been,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. “Pacific is a dangerous counterattacking team and you never know what will happen, especially with what happened in the first minute. In the second half I was proud of the girls, they came out on fire, ready to compete, ready to get behind the defense and I thought we were really dangerous.”

In the first minute of the game, Pacific’s Zarette Munoz-Aguilar scored from about 20 yards out to put the Tigers up 1-0. Munoz received the ball from Maricela Padilla and carried it down the left side before shooting the ball over Erica Owens’ head into the lower left corner from just outside the box.

Eleven minutes into the half, BYU evened the score at 1-1 on Colohan’s fifth goal of the season. Niki Fernandes sent a through ball to the left side that Hatch carried down to just outside the box. Hatch crossed the ball and Colohan dove and kicked it home on the far post.

With 10 minutes left in the first half, a goal by Rachel Manning off a corner kick was waved off due to a foul in the box on BYU.

Marissa Nimmer took a shot from just outside the box from the top-right corner that sailed just over the goal post with just over two minutes left in the half.

BYU outshot Pacific 5-2 in the first half and put three shots on goal compared to one from the Tigers.

“We just challenged the girls at halftime, particularly our attacking players, to bring a little more drive and passion and to complete a few more passes,” Rockwood said. “Sometimes you need just one or two, but I thought we created a lot of great dangerous opportunities. Our forwards did a much better job combining and getting to the corners and the end lines and we were able to get some crosses off. Certainly it helped relieve a lot of pressure when we scored in the first minute of the second half.”

The Cougars started out the second half the same way that Pacific started the first half, by scoring in the first minute. A foul by the Tigers gave BYU a free kick from just inside midfield. Colohan sent the free kick in and Colette Jepson Smith headed the ball over her head and into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.

In the 83^rd minute, BYU increased its lead to 3-1 on Hatch’s fifth goal of the season. Ella Johnson received a cross about 25 yards out and chipped it in over the Tiger defenders. Hatch got behind her defender and headed the ball between the legs of the goalie for the final goal of the game.

The Cougars return to action on Saturday, Nov. 9 for their final regular season game at 1 p.m. MST against Saint Mary’s.