No. 4 BYU Soccer Defeats WCC Rival Gonzaga To Remain Unbeaten

SALT LAKE CITY – No. 4 ranked BYU soccer keeps their unbeaten record intact after defeating West Coast Conference rival Gonzaga in the penultimate game of the season.

The Cougars (17-0-1) defeated the Zags 3-0 and remain one of only two programs that are undefeated heading into the final weekend of the women’s soccer season.

We are now ONE GAME away from an UNDEFEATED season!#BYUwSOC #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/7lyKd0vkMY

— BYU Women's Soccer (@byusoccer_w) November 7, 2019

After some early defense in the first 20 minutes of the match, BYU was then on the attack. In the 25′ minute, Jamie Shepherd got BYU on the board off an assist from Elise Flake.

11 minutes later, Flake scored her 17th goal of the season to give BYU a commanding 2-0 lead. But the Cougars weren’t done there. Flake booted another assist, this time to Mikayla Colohan in the 39′ minute to put BYU ahead 3-0.

On an emotional night for Gonzaga, as it was their senior night in Spokane, BYU made sure to spoil the party with a dominating win.

“I thought the girls came out and we had some great looks. I am really proud of how the girls played on the road on senior night because that is tough to do, but we continue to break teams down and find a way to get some good looks,” said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood.

Despite the high No. 4 ranking in the Top Drawer Soccer rankings, BYU is still only 12th in the NCAA Women’s Soccer RPI rankings heading into Wednesday night. The Zags were ranked 77th in the RPI, so it was a critical victory for BYU as they continue to strengthen their case to receive a high seed in the NCAA Tournament that will be announced this Monday.

Next Up: Outright WCC title on the line

BYU closes out the regular season at South Field this Saturday for Senior Night against the Loyola Marymount Lions. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. (MST) and the game can be seen on the WCC Network.

No. 4 @byusoccer_w 3 Gonzaga 0 (FT); Cougs’ three 1st-half goals hold up for the win as Jen Rockwood’s team improves to 17-0-1, 7-0-1 WCC.

BYU can secure a WCC title and the program’s first-ever undefeated regular season w/ a win or draw v. LMU on Saturday.

Win=outright crown.

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) November 7, 2019

When BYU and LMU kick-off, the Cougars will know what they have to do in order to secure an outright WCC Women’s Soccer conference championship. The Cougars are currently in first place with a 7-0-1 conference record. Behind them is Santa Clara who gave BYU their lone draw of the season and has a 6-0-2 record in the league.

If Santa Clara loses, BYU wins an outright title regardless of the outcome with LMU. If the Broncos win, BYU must defeat LMU and not lose or draw in order to secure the outright league title.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.