No. 22 Cougars tie Cal State Fullerton 1-1

FULLERTON, Calif. ­-- No. 22 BYU women's soccer went on the road to Cal State Fullerton and drew 1-1 after two overtime periods to kick off the 2014 season.

Cougar sophomore forward Ashley Hatch started the scoring for both sides in the 77th minute. Nadia Gomes fed her a ball 40 yards from goal and Hatch worked it to the corner of the box before taking a shot which deflected off a defender and past the keeper for the 1-0 lead with 13 minutes remaining. 

Fullerton equalized six minutes later off a corner kick. Christin Burkenroad fired a point blank shot at BYU's keeper Hannah Clark. The rebound fell to forward Ivy Diego who slotted it to the left of the falling keeper.

"There are a lot of positives," BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "It was our first game together as a team and you want to be able to hold a goal for 13 minutes."

After the equalizer, BYU had three good looks on goal before the end of regulation. Niki Fernandes and Hatch had looks inside the penalty area but both deflected off a defender, Hatch's also bounced off the post.

Gomes had a breakaway opportunity running past two defenders on the sideline, but fell right after passing the last defender.

Overtime showed it was the first game of the season as Marissa Nimmer's shot from 30 yards out in the 92nd minute was the only shot on goal in overtime for either team. Clark did snuff out a dangerous through ball sliding through the attacker as she grabbed the ball.

In the first half, it took the Cougars 10 minutes to get into the flow of the game. Murphy and Elena Medeiros each took good looks in the 12th and 13th minute, but Murphy fired right at the keeper, while Medeiros sailed one just high.

The Cougars outshot the Titans 14 to 10 and seven to four of those on goal. Hatch took three shots and put two on goal including the lone BYU goal. Nimmer, Fernandes and Medeiros each took two shots. The Titans did draw seven more corner kicks than the Cougars 10-3.

"You never know where you stand until you play a real game," Rockwood told the Cougar IMG Sports Network after the game. "It took us a little while to settle down. We just weren't dangerous enough in the attack. We were missing that last pass or that last touch that led to a shot."

The Cougars played five freshmen in their first ever game on Friday night. True freshman Elisabeth Phillips and redshirt Taylor Campbell Isom started, while redshirt keeper Clark and true freshmen Stephanie Ringwood and Gomes came off the bench. Fullerton started two freshmen including a true freshman in goal.

BYU returns home to play its first game at South Field on Monday Aug. 25 at 5:30 p.m. against Washington State. The game will be televised on BYUtv and a simulcast can be heard on Sirius XM channel 143. The Cougar IMG Sports Network will also broadcast the game on BYUcougars.com and the BYU Cougars app. Washington State won its home opener on Friday 3-0 over TCU after a three hour lightning delay.