Cougars open tour of Italy with shutout win

A late second-half goal from Madie Lyons proved to be the match winner, as BYU opened its playing tour of Italy with a 3-0 victory at CF Bocconi Milano, Monday evening in Milan.

Lyons curled home a shot from the top of the penalty box in the 70th minute, off an assist from Elena Medeiros; the marker served as apt reward for a BYU team that carried the run of play throughout the contest.

“I thought we did ok in the 1st half,” said head coach Jennifer Rockwood after the match. “We kept the ball well, but we weren’t very dangerous.”

“We just challenged them in the 2nd half to go forward, and want to get behind the back line ... we did that and scored three really nice goals.”

The Lyons blast seemed to dent the home team’s resolve, while quickening the Cougars’ pace; goals from Medeiros and Carla Swensen-Haslam followed in the 81^st and 87^th minute, respectively. Medeiros finished in the six-yard box after a fine end-line run and turn from Michele Vasconcelos; her cross found Medeiros in position to slot home for the 2-nil lead. Swensen-Haslam slotted home with a clever beck-heel tap to cap the scoring.

“I knew I didn’t have time to turn,” said Swensen-Haslam, “so I told myself, ‘I’m going to be a fool if I try to do a back-heel and the keeper just picks it up,’ but it’s one of those risks that your take, and luckily I got the reward.”

For Swensen-Haslam, the goal was particularly rewarding; she missed roughly six months after calf injury suffered in training last season, and only recently returned to full activity.

“For me, it was more than just a goal,” Swensen-Haslam observed after the match. “It was evidence to me that I was on the way back; it was almost hope for me, like ‘I’m going to be ok, even if things are starting slow.’”

Keeper Rachel Boaz kept a clean sheet in playing the full 90 minutes for BYU; the few shots she faced were all handled cleanly as she confidently patrolled her turf between the pipes.

After a long trip overseas and two rather full days of sightseeing, BYU’s opening-match win was well earned.

“You’ve got to score to win,” said Rockwood, “and putting three in (the net) in the 2nd half…it’s a great start for us on this trip.”

“Right now you have the mentality of ‘we need to win games, we need to stay focused,’” noted Swensen-Haslam, “and that will carry into summer training. It’s nice for us to come do these international trips, play international teams, but still have that mentality that we need to stay focused and stay ready for the fall NCAA season.”

Before driving into Milan for the late-evening game, the Cougars enjoyed a daytime excursion to Isola Bella, on Lake Maggiore. The island features the Palazzo Borromeo and its terraced gardens; the 13^th-century palace and its manicured grounds are among Italy’s most popular and beautiful tourist destinations.

The Cougars and their travel party will on Tuesday move from the lakeside city of Stresa, northwest of Milan, to the eastern part of Northern Italy, with their next match scheduled for Wednesday night in Venice.

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PLAYERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Redshirt freshman keeper Sabrina Macias:

Day two in Italy! What an adventure...all right, so today after getting a good eight-hour rest and slowly getting used to the time change we had an incredible breakfast that was provided by the team hotel. After breakfast, around 9:15 am, we were off to the boats to travel on the lake to visit the Isola Bella palace. Let me tell you: that place was incredible! The team and I had the opportunity to go through a private tour in the palace and see 25 out of the 200 rooms. One room was 77 feet tall...the detail on the designs throughout that room was amazing to see. After going through the unique rooms we were finally allowed to have some free time. We got to enjoy the gardens outside of the palace and walk around eating some gelato as we were looking at some tourist shops.

The team was very excited to play in our first international game against CF Bocconi Milano. We had a slow start in the first half but came out in the second half with three goals! The energy in the second half was awesome because everyone was enjoying themselves and played for the love of the game. It was a very good experience. We can't wait for another day in Italy.  

Redshirt freshman keeper Cassidy Smith:

Playing soccer here in Italy has been such a cool experience. I really enjoyed interacting with the CF Bocconi Milano girls before and after the game. They tried to teach Nadia and me some Italian, but we weren't very good at it. Although the language barrier made it difficult to fully communicate, it was easy to see their love for the game and their love for their country. I'm so grateful to be here in Italy, and I can't wait for more days to come!