MWC First Place Showdown This Week

With two straight losses, one on the road against no. 4 Nebraska and one at home against MWC foe New Mexico, BYU's women's soccer team is ready to fight back for sole possession of first place in this week's MWC standings. The Cougar women host Air Force Thurs. Oct. 25 and Wyoming Sat. Oct. 27. The Falcons and Cougars are tied for first place. Both conference games kick off at 7 p.m. , at South Field.

BYU vs Air Force Game On Television/Satellite

Thursday's game between the Cougars and Falcons will air live locally on KBYU-TV, Chan. 11 and live on BYU-TV on the Dish Network 500 System, Direct TV, and on other local cable channels. Kim Free will call the action and former BYU player Natalyn Lewis will provide the analysis.

Last Week Recap

On their last road trip of the regular season, BYU's women's soccer team was hoping it would end on a positive note heading into the final two weeks of MWC action. But with the 0-2 Nebraska win, the Cougar team was unable to recover at home as the lost a disappointing 0-1 decision to New Mexico on South Field. At Nebraska the fourth ranked Cornhuskers outshot the Cougars 15 to 4. In the home game against the Lobos, BYU's offensive effort struggled to get something in the net the entire 90 minutes even thought they had 28 shots to New Mexico's five. The loss against UNM is the first conference loss for the Cougars since the 2000 season. It was also the first time BYU has lost an MWC game at home in two seasons.

Cougars Fall Out Of National Polls This Week

Although the team is out of the polls, they did get votes in this week's SoccerTimes Top 25 Coaches Poll

Hermann Watch

• All American Aleisha Cramer is also one of 13 college players to be nominated for the Hermann Trophy. She's the lone sophomore nominated.

Returning Starters To Watch

• 17 Aleisha Cramer - MF, So (5G, 4A, 14PTS, 44SH)

• 11 Sarah Higham Yee - MF, Sr (4G, 1A, 9PTS, 25SH)

• 18 Jeni Willardson Viernes - MF/F, Jr (5G, 3A, 24PTS, 44SH)

Newcomers To Watch

• 15 Kim Devine - 5-5 F/Fr, Laguna Niguel, CA (Has started in all but one game, 6G, 3A, 15PTS, 32SH). She's currently the team's scoring leader

• 9 Krissa Campbell - MF/F, Fr, Folsom, CA (Played in all games, 1G, 2PTS, 11SH)

• 2 Kimmie Davis - MF/F, Fr, Torrance, CA (Played in all games, starting in one, 2G, 3A, 7PTS, 7SH)

Cougar '01 Quickie Stats

• Averaging 16.93 shots on goal per game

• Averaging 1.80 goals per game

• Average1.67 assists per game

• Average 5.27 points per game

BYU Picked To Win MWC Crown

The MWC Coaches picked BYU to win its third consecutive title. The Cougars received five first-place votes and collected a total of 36 points to capture the top spot in the poll.

BYU won the 2000 regular-season MWC crown with a perfect 6-0 league record and captured the conference tournament title with a 6-1 victory over Utah.

Cougar Notes

There are only three games remaining in the 2001 season all against MWC opponents. To date the BYU team has compiled a 8-6-1, 2-1-0 record after the two straight losses to Nebraska and New Mexico. in those two games, BYU was shutout something the Cougars have not done since the last season. Freshman Kim Devine tops the scoring chart for the Cougars with 15 points from six goals and three assists. Two others are in double digit scoring for BYU. All-American Aleisha Cramer has 14 points from five goals and four assists with teammate Jeni Willardson Viernes right behind her with five goals and three assists for her 13 points. Cramer also leads the team in assists with four to date.

In MWC games only , Viernes and Cramer are tied with five points from two goals and one assist each.

Injury Report

Returning defender Farrah Hofheins is out for the season due to a torn ACL suffered in practice at the start of the season. Freshman forward Megan Dickerson has been cleared to practice after her second ACL injury and has seen some playing time in the last two games. Sophomore defender Britney Holman will not travel or play this week after suffering a severe sprained ankle after the UNLV game last Thurs. Oct. 11.

Air Force Notes

The Falcons come to Provo with an identical BYU record in conference games at 2-1-0, and a 7-7-1 overall record. The Air Force Academy picked up MWC victories at home over UNLV and SDSU. They lost on the road to New Mexico. Beth Boyer sits at the top in points for the Falcons with 21 from eight goals and five assists. Jennifer Rowland follows with 15 points from six goals and three assists. Boyer and teammate Wendy Emminger are the team's assist leaders with five each. The Falcons are shooting 17 shot a game, getting 1.9 goals and 6.27 corner kicks a game.

Series Record: 4-0 favoring BYU. In 2000 the teams met twice once during the regular MWC schedule with the Cougars picking up the 4-0 in Colorado Springs. The teams met against at the conference tournament where BYU once again prevailed, this time with an 8-1 victory in Las Vegas.

Wyoming Notes

Wyoming has yet to win a conference game, even though they've played both conference foes tough. The Cowgirls played to a 1-1 overtime tie against San Diego and then fell to UNLV also in overtime 2-3. Both games were played in Laramie. This will be Wyoming's first conference road trip. They play at Utah Thursday afternoon before taking on the Cougars on Saturday night. Their record to date is 2-8-3, 0-1-2. Sancy Florquist is her team's leading scorer with six points from three goals. Lindsey Vossbrink leads in the assist category with two. In team stats, Wyoming is averaging 10.2 shots and 0.8 goals a game and they've tallied 38 corner kicks.

Series Record: 6-0 for BYU. Last season the two teams met in Laramie with the Cougars stealing the 4-1 victory.

The Rockwood File

Jennifer Rockwood begins her seventh season at the helm of BYU's women's soccer program. In six years she has guided her team to three conference championships and four straight appearances in the NCAA Championships beginning with the 1997 season. The Cougars have had two "Sweet Sixteen" finishes in 1998 and in 2000. Her many honors include two Coach of the Year honors, by the WAC in 1996 and in 2000 by the MWC.

Last season, she became the first MWC coach to eclipse the 100-win total on Sept. 23 with a 2-0 victory over Milwaukee-Wisconsin. Entering the 2001 season coach Rockwood ranked fifth among active coaches by winning percentage. She has averaged 18.6 wins per season over the past five years, which ranks second behind only Anson Dorrance of North Carolina for wins per season. Dorrance has won an average of 22.2 matches per season.

Rockwood has also coached in the Utah ODP , the youth club's and high school levels.

Rockwood's Record (13 Years at BYU, 7 with club team)

Division I/years: 120-32-3/6 (.774)

1995 Record: 11-8-1

1996 Record: 22-1-0

1997 Record: 19-4-0

1998 Record: 20-5-0

1999 Record: 21-4-0

2000 Record: 19-4-1

2001 Record: 8-6-1, 2-1-0

Rockwood Quotes

We're coming off a very disappointing loss this weekend especially at home and that's something we're not accustomed to doing. We're fortunate to have three days of practice before our next game. The team now has to regroup, be more focused, work hard and be both mentally and physically prepared. We're not playing our best soccer right now and that's something we have to be able to do in order to win and reach our goal of winning another conference championship.

BYU Media Information For Home Games

At home, the Cougars practice daily from 2:15 to 5 p.m. Player and/or coach Rockwood interviews may be done in advance by contacting Norma Collett at 801-378-4908 or via e-mail at norma_collett@byu.edu

There are no player interviews 24 hours prior to games. The Cougars practice at Haws Field, just west of the Smith Fieldhouse.

Up Next For The Cougars

BYU has one more conference game before heading to Las Vegas to the MWC Championship on Nov. 6. The Cougars host instate rival and MWC foe Utah on Sat. Nov. 3 in a 7 p.m. kick off.