Streaking Cougs open MWC play ranked 9th

PROVO — While 2006 nonconference fortunes for the BYU women's soccer team mirrored last season's successes, the Cougars are hoping conference and postseason results return to traditional but unspoken form.

BYU opens Mountain West Conference action on the road this week — at TCU tonight and at Utah 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Cougars concluded nonleague play last week with a 9-1-1 overall record, several key victories over ranked opponents and a No. 9 ranking.

The last time BYU enjoyed a single-digit national ranking was at this time last year, when the Cougars ripped off an 11-0-1 record and a No. 6 spot in one of the several national polls.

However, the Cougars then dropped their MWC opener against New Mexico and then proceeded to finish 2005 with a 4-1-2 league record, a first-round ouster from the conference tournament and a similar opening-round loss in the NCAA College Cup despite a No. 4 regional seeding in the national tournament.

"We peaked a little early last year," admitted BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood, whose Cougar teams swept the Mountain West's first four regular-season and tournament titles (1999-2002) but haven't won any championships in the three falls since.

Rockwood said the pressure - and the expressed expectations — to return to conference-domination tradition may have hindered the Cougars last year.

"Last year, we talked about it," she said. "This year, we have our conference goals (to win championships), but we haven't talked about the conference at all."

Not that the Cougars' second-place finishes have led demoralizing conclusions. In 2003, the team finished second in both the regular season and the tournament — and then advanced all the way to the NCAA's Elite Eight.

BYU has never lost to TCU, which enters tonight's league-opener with a 5-5-1 record.

Utah (7-4-0), the defending MWC regular-season champion who will host next month's conference tournament, is ranked No. 19 nationally Beginning in 1995, the Utes didn't beat the Cougars in their first 13 meetings until the 2002 NCAAs. From there, Utah won three straight before BYU claimed the 2004 meeting — the two rivals played to their first-ever tie in last year's regular-season finale.

The Cougars' following three matches will be home dates - Oct. 12 vs. San Diego State, Oct. 14 vs. Air Force and Oct. 19 vs. Wyoming.