BYU soccer: Cougars overcome Oregon

PROVO — The BYU Cougars defeated the Oregon Ducks 1-0 at South Field on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to six games.

The Cougars (9-2-1) held on to their first half lead to win against the very physical Ducks and break their six-game unbeaten streak.

"This was a great win for us against a very good Oregon team," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "McKinzie (Olson) had some huge saves for us and I feel like we were defensively solid tonight."

The Cougars finished the contest with eight shots compared to Oregon's seven. Both teams ended with five cornerkicks.

The game got off to a slow start with neither team getting a shot on goal until the 12-minute mark when Oregon's Teresa Bowns took one that was saved by BYU sophomore goalkeeper McKinzie Olson.

The Cougars had a scare when freshman forward Carlee Payne went down after colliding with an Oregon player early in the game. After just a moment, Payne was ready for more action.

At the 24-minute mark, BYU scored when senior Hermann Trophy Candidate Andrea Willis found, and connected with, freshman forward Jessica Ringwood for a header giving BYU the 1-0 lead. The goal was Ringwood's first of her college career.

"I jumped as high as I could and Andrea hit me just right," Ringwood said. "I was very excited."

The Ducks would have one more shot at the goal before the half but Olson came up big for the Cougars with the save, once again.

The second half was a scoreless battle with the Cougars getting many good shots on goal.

This win gives Olson her fifth personal shutout this season, finishing the game with three saves.

The Cougars will next host instate-rival Utah Saturday at 8 p.m.

Coach Rockwood says the game is one she is looking forward to.

"We haven't talked about Utah all year and we get to start talking about them tomorrow," Rockwood said. "We are excited to play Utah on our home field and we hope we will have a lot of fans here to cheer us on."

IDAHO STATE 1, UTAH STATE 0: At Logan, a goal in the 22nd minute held up as the match's only score on Thursday at USU's Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.