Royall leads No. 5 BYU to victory

PROVO, Utah -- The No. 5 BYU women's soccer team picked up its first West Coast Conference win Thursday, beating the University of San Francisco 3-1 at South Field while remaining unbeaten at home.

"This is our first conference win of the year so it's a huge game for us," head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "The girls played really well tonight. We had good opportunities and I knew they were hungry after not scoring in the first 45 minutes."

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After a scoreless first half, BYU (12-1-1) came out of the break and immediately put pressure on the San Francisco defense, scoring the first goal of the game 18 seconds into the period. Michele Murphy scored the goal, her sixth of the season. 

In the 66th minute, Kyleigh Royall scored her first goal of the year on a cross from Carlee Payne Holmoe to give the Cougars a two-point lead. The assist was the seventh on the season for Holmoe who is the Cougars' assist leader this season.

USF pulled within one goa,l in the 73rd minute, when forward Kelsey Moe found Rochelle Weerackoon in the box to put the Dons on the scoreboard. BYU answered in the 81st minute as Royall scored her second goal of the night.

"Kyleigh scored two huge goals for us tonight," Rockwood said. "She's been playing great for us off the bench and I'm really happy for her."

The Cougars controlled the tempo in the first half, taking 12 shots and four corner kicks. The home team seemed to be on the attack constantly, while the visitors failed to register a single shot attempt in the opening period. By the end of the game the Cougars had taken 23 shots while the Dons had attempted only two.

The Cougars are at WCC powerhouse Portland on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. 

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