BYU soccer: Cougars thump No. 19 Georgia

PROVO — The BYU women's soccer team inaugurated its newly renovated home field with a goalfest against 19th-ranked Georgia on Friday.

In front of an overflow crowd of 3,066, the Cougars scored early and often in a 4-1 win. Katie Larkin had two of BYU's goals, and freshman Lauren Anderson had two assists.

On Monday, the Cougars were on the opposite end of a 4-1 score line, losing on the road to LSU. The team was eager to erase that game from memory and move on.

"We're playing hard teams so we can be better," said BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood. "We saw what we needed to do, we made some adjustments, and the girls really responded positively."

Larkin opened up the scoring in the third minute, beating the 'keeper on a breakaway after a through ball from Anderson. Georgia tied the score in the ninth minute when Carrie Patterson knocked in a lose corner kick, but that was all the highlights the Bulldogs would get.

The Cougars found space on the counterattack all night long, and created a lot of chances coming out of their own half.

"We were able to move the ball in the midfield and I think that unbalances their defense a little bit," said Rockwood. "Our forwards were able to keep possession. The chemistry is really coming along there."

BYU went back ahead four minutes later when another breakaway run by Larkin set up an empty net for Kassidy Christensen.

Ten minutes into the second half the score was 2-1 when Anderson centered the ball to Larkin just inside the box, and the senior forward made no mistake with her wide-open shot.

Katie Hodgkiss finished off the scoring, rebounding the goalkeeper's mishandled save in the goal box.

BYU's next game is Monday afternoon against Arizona. Georgia will head north to take on Utah on Sunday.

Arizona 4, Utah 0

For the first time in Rich Manning's seven years as Utah soccer coach, the Utes lost their home opener, falling to Arizona 4-0 Friday night at Ute Field.

The deficit was the largest for a Manning-coached team and you can blame the coach for that.

"The last three goals are on me," Manning said.

The Utes were down 1-0 most of the game and in an effort to try to even the score, Manning played with one fewer defender and an extra forward in the last 10 minutes and it backfired.