Missed opportunity as BYU falls to Santa Clara 2-1

PROVO, Utah – Despite controlling possession for much of the match, No. 13 BYU women’s soccer gave up a late goal and fell to No. 23 Santa Clara 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at a snowy South Field.

“We had a lot of the run of play in the second half and ultimately, it led to three shots,” said BYU head coach Jen Rockwood. “That’s just not good enough against a team like Santa Clara, with how dangerous they are.”

After the score was knotted at one for most of the match, the Broncos’ Julie Doyle found a hole in the Cougar defense and scored the deciding goal in the 88th minute.

“We scored nice and early,” Rockwood said. “We had lots of opportunities, and we just kind of sat back and, I felt, wasted most of the first half. That was really frustrating.”

The Cougars grabbed the early 1-0 lead off a successful penalty kick from Mikayla Colohan in the fifth minute. Colohan slipped the ball just passed the goalie’s fingers and into the bottom right corner of the net for her fifth goal of the season and 29th of her career.

Santa Clara wouldn’t let the Cougars hold onto the lead for long. The Broncos’ Kelsey Turnbow tied the match at one in the 13th minute with a shot off her left foot that flew into the top left corner of the net, just over the outstretched fingers of BYU goalie Cassidy Smith.

In the second half, BYU was unable to capitalize on opportunities from Colohan, Brecken Mozingo and Cameron Tucker. For the match, the Cougars had 12 shots and only four on goal, while allowing seven shots on goal of the Broncos’ 10. 

“It was new for us not to attack and feel very tentative in how we were attacking,” Rockwood said. “Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve got to learn from. Hopefully, we can be refocused, get back to work and work a little harder next week.”

With the loss, BYU moves to 4-3 on the season and 2-1 in WCC play.

BYU will look to bounce back from Saturday’s setback when it hosts UVU in the UCCU Crosstown Clash on March 17 at 4 p.m. The match between the Cougars and Wolverines will be broadcast live on BYUtv and through the BYU Sports Network – BYU Radio 107.9 FM/BYU Cougars App.