BYU Is Second Seed At MWC Championships, Plays Wyoming In First Round

After finishing MWC play with a 5-1 first place tie with SDSU and Utah, the Cougar women open the first-ever MWC soccer championships seeded second and play Wyoming in the first round, Wednesday, November 3, 2 p.m., at ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. The Championships are hosted by San Diego State University.

Cougars In This Week's Polls

• In Soccer Times Poll - 20th

• Ranked 23rd by the NSCAA

Returning Starters To Watch

• 20 Maren Hendershot - F, Sr (13G, 8A, 34PTS, 65SH)

• 15 Kim Lowe - MF, Jr (8G, 9A, 25PTS, 45SH)

• 12 Sara Reading - MF, Jr (14G, 3A, 31PTS, 79SH)

• 11 Sarah Higham - MF, So (8G, 8A, 24PTS, 38SH)

• 4 Natalyn Lewis - MF, Jr (4G, 5A, 13PTS, 40SH)

• 14 Karen Wunderli- MF, Sr (3G, 8A, 14PTS, 36SH)

• 00 Jennifer Waldron - GK, So (13 GA, .79Average in Goals Allowed)

Newcomers To Watch

• 5 Rachelle Dixon - 5-6 MF/F, Fr (2G, 2A, 6PTS, 15SH)

• 18 Jeni Willardson - 5-9 MF/F, Fr (7G, 4A, 18PTS, 34SH)

Cougar Season Highs To Date

• Most goals in a game (team) - eight vs Northwestern on 9/4

• Most shots in game (team) - 40 vs University of New Mexico on 10/8

• Most corner kicks in a game (team) - eight vs Wisconsin-Milwaukee 9/9

• Most assists in game (team) - eight vs Cal Poly on 9/11

• Most goals in a game (individual- Sara Reading) - three vs University of New Mexico on 10/8

Cougar '99 Quickie Stats After 20 Games

• Averaging 24.6 shots on goal per game

• Averaging 3.3 goals per game

• Average 3.2 assists per game

• Average 9.9 points per game

Cougars In Conference Stats - Team

• First Place - Shots: 176, 29.33 average

• First Place - Goals: 23, 3.83 average

• First Place - Assists: 20, 3.33 average

• First Place - Points: 66, 11.0 average

• First Place - Goals Allowed: 2, 0.33 average

• First Place - Corners: 43, 7.17 average

BYU In Conference Stats - Individual

• First Place - (Sara Reading) Points: 15, 2.50 average

• First Place - (Sara Reading) Goals: 7, 1.17 average

• First Place - (Kim Lowe) Assists: 4, 0.67 average

• Second Place - (Sara Reading) Shots: 22, 3.67 average

• Second Place - (Maren Hendershot) Goals: 6, 1.20 average

• Second Place - (Jennifer Waldron) Shutouts: 3.5, 0.70 average

• Third Place - (Maren Hendershot) Points: 12, 2.40 average

BYU vs Wyoming Notes

The Cowgirls finished the '99 year with a 4-13, 1-5 record and a number seven seed in this year's MWC Championships. In the earlier conference meeting between BYU and Wyoming, the Cougars grabbed a 7-0 victory in Provo on 10/21. Wyoming's lone conference victory was a 1-0 shutout over New Mexico in Albuquerque. The Cowgirls are averaging 9.33 shots per game in conference action. BYU leads the series against Wyoming 4-0.

Cougars Itinerary in San Diego

BYU will be staying in the MWC headquarters hotel, the Hilton Mission Valley, 901 Camino del Rio South, 619-543-9000. They leave Provo, Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m., arriving in San Diego about 3:45 p.m. The Cougars return Saturday, Nov. 6, at 5:50 p.m., arriving in Provo about 10 p.m. BYU's SID Norma Collett is traveling with the team and can be reached at the hotel for coach/player interviews.

Coach Jennifer Rockwood Quotes

(On the Cougars) We finished our regular season very strong. Things are very positive for our team right now and people have been playing well and many players are contributing. Our number one goal this year has been to get ourselves ready to win this first conference tournament.

(On Wyoming) They are a very young team and I thought we played very well against them here at home. Now we need to show that we can play just as solid on the road.

Up Next For The Cougars

If BYU defeats Wyoming in the first round, they will play the winner of the Utah vs New Mexico game in one of two semi-final contests, Thursday at 11 a.m. The MWC Soccer Championship game is on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 12 p.m.

Directions

The Inaugural Mountain West Conference Women's Soccer Championships will take place Wed.-Sat., November 3-6 at the ARCO Olympic Train Center in Chula Vista, Calif. A map is shown below. Take Telegraph Canyon/Otay Lakes Road seven miles east of I-805 and turn right on Wueste Road; follow signs. For general/hours/tour info, call (619) 482-6222.