Soccer takes undefeated record on road

PROVO — The women's soccer team takes its 5-0 spring record on the road this week to Texas, where it will play a pair of games against Texas A&M and the National U-20 team.

Last year, BYU defeated the U-20 team in Texas by a 2-1 score.

In the BYU Indoor Tournament last month, the Cougars beat up on local competition, taking two matches each from Weber State and Dixie State and another from Utah Valley State College by a collective score of 15-1.

The scorefest was a balanced effort, as eight different Cougars were credited with goals in the tournament. Jessica Aquino and Katie Fellows led the way with three goals each, while Alyssa Vander Veur and Kristi Dow had two each.

Katie Larkin, Kelsea Kakadelas, Ashleigh Jameson and Becca Riddle added one goal each in the tournament.

BYU is coming off a 14-4-2 record in the 2006 season. The Cougars were hot during the regular season, climbing into the top 10 in national polls, but suffered defeats in the first round of both the Mountain West Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

After the Texas trip, the team has three days of play left on the schedule. The Cougars will be in California on March 31 for matches against Boston College and USC, then will return home for a date with Utah on April 7.

Spring play concludes April 14 with the BYU Spring Tournament.

BASEBALL: The baseball team will play its first conference home series of the season beginning today, when MWC leader TCU visits Provo for a three-game series.

The Horned Frogs enter the series with a 3-0 league record, coming off a series sweep against Air Force last weekend. The team is led on the mound by the reigning MWC pitcher of the week, Jake Arrieta, who won the award after picking up his fourth win of the year Friday against the Falcons after throwing an eight-inning shutout.

Offensively, senior Keith Conlon has powered the Frogs' offense with a .414 batting average and five home runs on the season.

The three-game series begins tonight at 6 p.m. at Miller Park. Friday's game is also scheduled for 6 p.m., while a 1 p.m. start time is slated for Saturday. There will a post-game fireworks show following tonight's game.

SOFTBALL: A difficult challenge awaits the softball team in its final out-of-state tournament this week. Playing in the Diamond Devil Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., BYU faces two meetings with No. 4 Arizona State (27-2).

The Cougars (16-11) will face the Sun Devils today and Friday. BYU will also play Illinois and Longwood in the tournament.

BYU will return to Utah next week for a doubleheader at Southern Utah on Wednesday, then return to Provo for its home opener against Idaho State on Mar. 30.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com