Sept. 21, 2003
Provo, UT-- The 21st-ranked Brigham Young University Cougars scored two second half goals to break a scoreless tie at the half and lift the Cougars to a 2-0 win over the short-handed Idaho State Bengals in women's soccer action Saturday night at South Stadium.
Without the services of Stacey Allen, Janel Smith and Stephanie Anderson the Bengals were unable to generate a consistent offensive surge against the Cougars. But for a half it was enough as the teams battled to a 0-0 tie after one period. BYU controlled play, taking 10 shots to ISU's 1, but had only a couple of good scoring opportunities.
But just 12:47 into the second half the tide turned. Aleisha Rose took a corner kick from the right side of the ISU goal and sent it over to the left side of the penalty box where Lydia Ojuka was waiting and put the ball in the net for a 1-0 BYU lead.
After the goal ISU seemed to be spurred on as they started to get more offensive opportunities. The Bengals took four shots in the second half after just one in the first, but BYU keeper Ashley Smith and her defense made three saves to keep ISU scoreless.
The Cougars then put the game away late. Amberlee Anderson got behind the ISU defense racing down the right side of the field. Shannon Boyle came out of the box to stop Anderson's shot, but the ball went over Boyle and Bobbi Tillotson put it in the net for a 2-0 lead at the 83:14 mark of the game.
ISU had a few more opportunities to tighten the game up late. The best came with about three minutes left when freshman Jessie Bobert took a pass in the middle of the BYU zone and split a pair of defenders for a breakaway. Smith came out of the goal to challenge Bobert, who took a shot from about 30 yards out and Smith, about 10 yards from Bobert, was just able to get a hand on the ball, preventing the goal and preserving the shutout.
"It was a very well played game by BYU," ISU coach Gordon Henderson said. "We're pretty banged up right now, we're just playing with smoke and mirrors. We just couldn't hold them off. I'm sure they would have liked to play against our best. I'm not taking anything away from them, but it would have been nice to have all our best out there tonight."
With the loss the Bengals fell to 4-2-1 on the season, while BYU improved to 5-2-1. ISU will return home in their next game, on Thursday, September 25 at 5:00 p.m. at Davis Field against the University of Utah.
