Week 4 - Returning Home

Home Again

After their first road trip of the 2003 season, the No. 21 BYU women's soccer team (4-1-1) returns home for a two-game home stand this weekend with Montana (1-4-1) and Idaho State (3-1-1).

After a disappointing loss in overtime to Iowa that snapped the Cougars' four-game winning streak, the Cougars are ready to get back on the winning track.

The first opportunity for the Cougars will be Friday, Sept. 19, as BYU hosts the Montana Grizzlies. This will be the eighth game played between the two schools dating back to 1995.

BYU holds the most wins in the series holding a 5-2 overall record against the Grizzlies including last season's 4-1 win in Montana. However, the Cougars are 1-2 against Montana when playing at South Stadium.

On Saturday BYU faces Idaho State, who is coming off of a loss to Gonzaga and a tie with Idaho last week. The series between the Cougars and Bengals is tied at 1-1 with Idaho State defeating BYU last season at South Stadium 0-2. The game marked the fourth time in Cougar history that an opponent manged to shutout out BYU at South Stadium.

The No. 21 Cougars kick off with the Grizzlies on Sept. 19, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT). The Idaho State game time on Sept. 20, has been changed to 8:00 p.m. at South Stadium to begin after the football game.

Living Live

For the remainder of the 2003 season, all Cougar home games will have Live Stats available online at www.byucougars.com/soccer_w by simply clicking on the 2003 schedule and then selecting the appropriate "Live Stat" link with the corresponding game. Live Stats provides an opportunity for those who cannot be at South Stadium to still follow and enjoy BYU Women's Soccer.

The Last Time

BYU scored two goals in each period, with freshman Charlene Lui and senior Jeni Viernes each knocking in scores in the first half to give the Cougars a 2-0 advantage. Montana answered in the second half with a goal by Grizzly Liz Roberts in the 63rd minute to make the score 2-1. The Cougars responded eight minutes later, when junior Lydia Ojuka scored her second goal of the season to put BYU up 3-1. With a

little over two minutes left in the contest, Kimmie Davis found the net to give BYU a 4-1 lead and secure their third consecutive win. The Cougars own a 5-2 all-time series lead over the Grizzlies.

Despite out-shooting Idaho State 12-2 in the second half and 17-6 for the game, the BYU women's soccer was shutout 2-0 by the Idaho State Bengals last season. The Bengals' first goal came in the 14th minute when ISU's Stacey Peterson looped the ball over Cougar keeper Mandy Gott into the left side of the net to give the Bengals a 1-0 lead. The second goal for the Bengals came in the 58th minute when Ilsa Gramer's header off a corner kick found the back of the net. It was the fourth time in BYU's history that a team shutout the Cougars at South Stadium.

Scouting The Opponents

Montana comes into Friday's game against the Cougars with a 1-3-1 record including a 3-0 loss to Cal Poly on Saturday and a 1-0 victory over Cal Irvine last week. On the season the Grizzlies have been out shot by their opponents by a margin of 102-47, resulting in 13 opponent goals and four goals for Montana. Junior forward Jamie Rizzuto leads the Grizzlies with two goals, including the lone goal in Montana's first victory of the season against Cal Irvine. Junior forward Tara Schwager has recorded one goal and two assists on the season while taking 12 shots.

Idaho State is coming off a 2-1 loss to Gonzaga and a 1-1 tie with Idaho. The Bengals have a combined 3-1-1 record and will face Southern Utah on Thursday before taking on the Cougars. Two Bengals have recorded three goals on the season, Junior forward Staci Allen and junior midfielder Shawna Park. Allen has also recorded two assists with 15 shots, while Park has one assist and 13 shots. Senior forward Heather Jones leads the Bengal with five assists. On the season ISU has out shot its opponents 73-55 while averaging 1.91 goals per game and have held the opponents to just 0.77 goals per contest.

Last Game: No. 14 Kentucky & Iowa

Senior Lydia Ojuka propelled the No. 12 Cougars past No. 14 Kentucky (2-2-1) in the first day of the Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky. The Cougars' four game shutout streak came to an end at the beginning of the first period as the Wildcats scored their first goal of the game only 30 seconds into the period, when Jen Weakley connected from 12 yards out. All-American Aleisha Rose would answer back for the Cougars as she drilled in her first goal of the season off a Jennifer Fielding assist, from 17 yards out into the left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 going into halftime. In the 85th minute, senior Lydia Ojuka came up big for the Cougars as her header found the back of the Kentucky net to put BYU up for good at 2-1. Sophomore Bobbi Tillotson and Rose were credited with the game-winning assists.

BYU played aggressively on offense against Iowa, out shooting the Hawkeyes 20-6. Despite out shooting the Hawkeyes 10-3 in the first period, the two teams played the majority of the period without a goal. Senior Lydia Ojuka struck first to put the Cougars up 1-0 in the 28th minute off an assist from junior Krissa Campbell and sophomore Jaime Rendich that found the far corner of the net. Rendich recorded a second assist in the game as she found sophomore Kimberly Martins who struck from 18 yards out into the right side of the Iowa net, giving BYU a 2-0 lead. Less than four minutes later, the Hawkeyes came back with a goal of their own by Natalie Lencioni, sending the teams into the break with the Cougars on top 2-1. Iowa tied the game at 2-2 after Danielle Oswald connected on a penalty kick in the 57th minute. Neither team would score again in regulation. In overtime, Iowa's Katelyn Quinn found the back of the Cougars' net for the game-winning goal in the 93rd minute.

Rose Is The MWC Offensive Player of the Week and On Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week

Senior All-American Aleisha Rose was one of 11 athletes named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week and was also named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Cougars (4-1-1) to a 2-1 record last week and setting three school records.

Against SUU on Monday Sept. 8, Rose racked up four assists with four different Cougars in the team's fourth consecutive shutout to start the season. Her performance ranks first all-time on the BYU record books for most assists in a single game as well as the most assists ever recorded by one player at South Stadium. With her assist on Terra Bigelow's goal in the 52nd minute of the game, Rose became the No. 1 all-time career assist leader at BYU, passing Michelle J. Peterson who set the mark in 2000 with 38 career assists.

That weekend while playing in the Kentucky Invitational against No. 14 Kentucky, Rose found the back of the net in the 24th minute to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period. Then with time winding down, Rose connected with senior Lydia Ojuka in the 85th minute for the game-winning goal as Rose was credited with the assist.

To cap off the week Rose was named to the Kentucky Invitational's all-tournament team along with teammates Charlene Lui and Lydia Ojuka. In all Rose set three BYU records, tallied five assists, and scored a goal of her own in last week's games.

The Assist Queen

Senior All-American Aleisha Rose tallied four assists against Southern Utah, setting a new BYU school record and South Stadium record for most assists in a single game. The previous record of three assists was shared by Natalyn Lewis, Athelia Graham and Shauna Rohbock. With her assist on Terra Bigelow's goal in the 52nd minute against SUU, Rose became the No. 1 all-time career assist leader at BYU, passing Michelle J. Peterson who set the mark in 2000 with 38 career assists.

Ranking Or No Ranking

The Cougars are 2-0-1 against opponents ranked in the top 25 this season. BYU defeated No. 7 Tennessee 1-0, No. 14 Kentucky 2-1, and tied No. 17 Michigan 0-0 in double overtime. At home the Cougars are 1-0-1 and 1-0-0 on the road with the lone road game being against Kentucky.

Rose On Hermann Trophy Watch List

Three-time All-American senior Aleisha Rose, of the BYU women's soccer team, was named to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy watch list Tuesday. The M.A.C.'s Hermann Trophy is college soccer's equivalent to the Heisman Trophy and represents the highest level of individual achievement in the sport.

Rose, a preseason All-American, is one of 16 athletes who make up the watch list that includes the top Division I athletes in the country. Past recipients include some of the biggest names in soccer, such as Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Shannon MacMillan, Cindy Parlow, Claudio Reyna, Tony Meola and Alexi Lalas.

A native of Lakewood, Colo., Rose has become one of the most decorated soccer athletes in Cougar history. As a freshman she was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, was the MWC Player of the Year as a sophomore, a first-team All-MWC and MWC All-Tournament team selection and has received three-consecutive All-America citations. This is the second time in her career that Rose has been named to the Hermann Trophy watch list.

Rose Named Preseason All-America

On Tuesday, Soccer America announced its 2003 preseason All-Americans, and heading up the list is three-time All-American senior Aleisha Rose of the BYU women's soccer team.

Rose, a native of Lakewood, Colo., is one of the most decorated athletes to ever play for the Cougars and has been an integral part to the team's success the past three seasons.

Now entering her final year of eligibility, Rose has helped the Cougars win three Mountain West Conference titles, was named the 1999 National High School Player of the Year, the 2000 MWC Freshman of the Year and the 2000 ESPN/Soccer Times Freshman of the Year, the 2001 MWC Player of the Year, has been placed on the All-MWC first-team and the MWC Tournament all three years, and has received three All-America citations.

Rose is one of 11 athletes that makes up the 2003 Soccer America preseason All-American list.

Cougar Awards in 2003

National

Preseason All-American - Aleisha Rose

Hermann Trophy candidate - Aleisha Rose

Soccer America Team of the Week:

- Defender, Claire Thomas 9/8

Conference

Offensive Player of the Week - Aleisha Rose 9/15

Defensive Player of the Week - Nicole Jensen 9/2

Claire Thomas 9/8

Cougar Awards in 2002

National

NSCAA ALL-AMERICAN: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, 2nd Team

NSCAA All-West Region: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, 1st Team; Jeni Viernes, 1st Team; Brooke Bowman, 3rd Team

SOCCER BUZZ ALL-AMERICAN: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, 3rd Team; Brooke Bowman, Freshman 3rd Team

SOCCER BUZZ ALL-WEST REGION: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, 1st Team; Jeni Viernes, 1st Team; Brooke Bowman, All-Freshman Team

Conference

MWC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jeni Viernes

MWC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Brooke Bowman

MWC FIRST TEAM: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, Jeni Viernes, Brooke Bowman

MWC SECOND TEAM: Annie Hoecherl, Charlene Lui

MWC TOURNAMENT MVP: Jeni Viernes

MWC TOURNAMENT TEAM: Aleisha Cramer-Rose, Jeni Viernes, Jennifer Fielding-Henry, Brooke Bowman

MWC ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Brooke Bowman, Aleisha Cramer-Rose, Jennifer Fielding-Henry, Katherine Gabbart, Britney Holman, Charlene Lui, Terra Smith-Bigelow, Jeni Viernes

Standing Room Only

A record crowd packed into South Stadium on Friday, Sept. 5 to watch the Cougars take on the No. 7 Tennessee Lady Vols. The game drew a standing-room-only crowd with 2,758 fans in attendance, breaking the old record of 2,191 set one week earlier in the season opener against No. 17 Michigan, a game that ended in a 0-0 double overtime tie.

South Stadium

For the past eight years South Stadium, formerly South Field, has been the battlefield for the Cougars as they have taken on, and defeated, the top teams in their conference and in the NCAA. The Cougars have amassed a 64-11-2 (.855) record at home, a record that is among the best in the nation over the same time period.

Of those 64 home-game wins, an outstanding 42 have ended in a shutout. The Cougars consistently hold their opponents scoreless when playing at South Stadium with 55.26 percent of all their games ending in shutout victories, while BYU has been shutout only five times in the stadium's history.

The Stadium's crowds consistently rank in the top 15 in the NCAA for the largest crowds in the country. With an average attendance of 1,075 fans during the 2002 campaign, the Cougars had the 15th largest attendance average in the country making South Stadium one of the toughest places for opponents to play in college today.

The Rockwood File

In only eight short years, head coach Jennifer Rockwood has taken the BYU women's soccer team to national prominence and established herself as one of the premier coaches in Division I soccer today.

Rockwood currently ranks eighth in winning percentage among active NCAA coaches with an impressive 142-39-3 (.780) overall record for her career, with the likes of Anson Dorrance, John Walker, Chris Petrucelli, Becky Burleigh and Clive Charles being the only coaches ahead of her. Over the last seven seasons, Rockwood has averaged 18.85 wins per year, an average that has her ranked second behind only Anson Dorrance of North Carolina.

In eight years as head coach, Rockwood has guided the Cougars to five conference championships. After going undefeated in conference play and winning their fourth straight Mountain West Conference title last season, the Cougars managed to remain the only team to win the conference title in the history of the MWC.

On the national scene, Rockwood and her teams have made six consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and reached the "Sweet Sixteen" in 1998 and 2000. Under the watch of Rockwood, the Cougars have also had seven consecutive top-25 finishes including last season's No. 23 finish.

Among the many achievements and awards she has received over her career, Rockwood has been honored with two Coach of the Year citations, one by the Western Athletic Conference in 1996, and then by the MWC in 2000. She also became the first MWC coach to eclipse the 100-win total mark when the Cougars shutout Milwaukee-Wisconsin 2-0 on Sept. 23, 2000.

Under Rockwood's tutelage, a long list of All-American soccer players has emerged from BYU's program. These athletes include Aleisha Rose, Jeni Viernes, and Michelle Jensen. Among the players who have been coached by Rockwood are four athletes that were drafted by the women's United Soccer Association: Shauna Rohbock, Maren Hendershot, Sara Reading, and Staci Reynolds.

Prior to becoming the head coach, Rockwood led BYU's highly successful club soccer team for seven years. In that time she amassed an overall record of 128-25-9, and in the final two years she took her teams to the Western National Collegiate Club soccer Association (NCCSA) title and placed second in the NCCSA National Championships.

The Lake Oswego, Ore. native was a three-sport athlete in college playing soccer, basketball, and track. After one year at Ricks College on a basketball scholarship, she transferred to BYU where she became a four-year starter at center midfield on the Cougars' club soccer team. Rockwood has also coached in the Utah ODP, youth club programs, and at the high school level.

ROCKWOOD, YEAR-BY-YEAR

Year W L T Conference

1995 11 8 1 WAC

1996 22 1 0 WAC

1997 19 4 0 WAC

1998 20 5 0 WAC

1999 21 4 0 MWC

2000 19 4 1 MWC

2001 14 7 1 MWC

2002 16 6 0 MWC

2003 4 1 1 MWC

Total 146 40 4 (.830)

BYU club team under Rockwood:

128-25-9 (.790), six years (1989-1994)

ROCKWOOD AMONG COACHING ELITE

Rockwood currently ranks eighth in winning percentage among active NCAA Division I coaches with an impressive 142-39-3 (.780) overall record for her career. Anson Dorrance, John Walker, Chris Petrucelli, Becky Burleigh and Clive Charles are the only coaches ahead of her. Over the last seven seasons, Rockwood has averaged 18.85 wins per year, an average that has her ranked second behind only Anson Dorrance of North Carolina.

Fresh Faces

This season's incoming class of Cougar freshman can be expected to make strong contributions to the team, with five of the nine recruits hailing from Utah.

With the loss of some key defenders from last year's squad, expect freshmen Claire Thomas, and Nicole Jensen to make an immediate impact for BYU.

Jensen was a 2002 All-State selection out of Denver, CO, and Thomas was a 2002 and 2003 Barons All-Tournament Team selection as well as a 2002 second-team All-Palomar athlete, and joins the team at 16 years of age.

Among the Utah athletes headed to BYU is the 5A MVP in 2002 Elizabeth Affleck (redshirting the 2003 season) out of Alta High School and the two-time 4A MVP Courtney Asay from Mountain View High School.

The Cougars' incoming class ranks along side with the best classes the school has ever had. Affleck and Bobbi Tillotson were both members of the 5A State Championship Alta High School, and Asay, Haylee Cuthbert, and Ali Williams all played for the three-time 4A State Championship Mountian View Bruins.

Home Sweet Home

The 2003 regular schedule is set to be one of the best home game schedules in school history. The Cougars will be playing 13 of their 19 regular season games at South Stadium. Highlighting this season's home schedule will be three teams that finished in the 2002 NSCAA top-25: No. 11 Michigan, No. 10 Tennessee, and No. 22 USC. BYU will also host four teams that are ranked in the NSCAA preseason top-25: No. 14 Tennessee, No. 17 Michigan, No. 19 USC and No. 21 Florida.

In the past home field advantage has paid great dividends for the Cougars as the team has amassed an impressive 61-10-1 record at home. In the those games BYU has managed to shut out its opponent 38 times, while losing only four games in a shutout.

Also included in the home schedule is the 1998 NCAA Championship team, Florida, as well as in-state rivals Southern Utah, Weber State, and Utah. The Cougars and Utes will face-off in the final regular season home game for BYU on Nov. 1 at South Stadium.

With seven teams on the regular season schedule that qualified for the 2002 NCAA Tournament, this year's schedule promises to be one of the most competitive seasons for the Cougars who finished No. 23 in the NSCAA final rankings last year and are No. 24 in the NSCAA preseason poll.

Cougars Picked Second in mwc preseason

The Mountain West Conference announced its 2003 preseason poll Monday with the league's coaches selecting BYU to finish second behind Utah.

One point and one vote separated the Cougars and the Utes in the voting, with BYU totaling 33 points and three first place votes, while Utah grabbed 34 points with four first place votes.

For the 2003 season BYU returns eight starters and 11 letterwinners while the Utes return six starters and 14 letterwinners.

MWC Preseason Coaches' Poll

Pl. Team (1st pl. votes) Points

1. Utah (4) 34

2. BYU (3) 33

3. New Mexico 26

4. UNLV 19

5. San Diego State 18

6. Air Force 9

7. Wyoming 8

Four-straight MWC Titles

With a 2-1 win over Utah in the final game of the regular season, BYU ensured itself a fourth-straight MWC Regular Season Championship.

The Cougars first goal of the game came in the 41st minute on a header by sophomore forward/midfielder Kimmie Davis. Senior forward Jeni Willardson-Viernes put BYU up 2-0, scoring her sixth game-winning goal of the season in the 64th minute on a pass from junior All-American Aleisha Cramer-Rose. Utah's only goal came on a penalty kick by Ute forward Shauna Gurr-Bingham.

Going into the MWC Tournament the Cougars earned a first-round bye before defeating San Diego State 9-2 in the second-round. The win advanced BYU to the championship game where they came out on top of New Mexico 5-1, winning their fourth consecutive MWC Championship title.

To date, the Cougars remain the only team in the MWC to ever win the either conference crown.

Injury Update

Senior Aydre Soff tore her meniscus in practice on Sept. 4, and is done for her career. Freshman goalkeeper Meredith Simmons is out for the season due to a torn MCL she suffered in practice Sept. 3 . Sophomore midfielder Brooke Bowman has a sprained MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks.

Practive and Interviews

Practice is held weekdays from 2:15-4:30 on Haws Field. Interviews with Coach Rockwood and/or members of the Cougar soccer team are schedules through the BYU Athletic Media Relations office. To schedule an interview, Please contact Jason Wells at (801) 422-8999 or by

e-mail at soccer_sid@byu.edu.