PROVO — BYU looks to finish its 2005 women's soccer season like it started — unbeaten — as the No. 17 Cougars (15-2-3) face Weber State (14-4-1).
The NCAA tournament first-round match is set today for 4:30 p.m. at Ute Field in Salt Lake City.
BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood hopes her Cougars play more like the team that ripped of an 11-0-1 mark en route to a No. 6 national ranking and less like the team that finished 0-1-2.
"It's a time to start over," Rockwood said.
Jamie Rendich Beck agreed.
"We get one more chance — it was kinda scary how we finished," said Beck, who with fellow senior Charlene Lui are the only two starters remaining from BYU's 2003 NCAA Elite Eight team. "We're ready to go — we've learned from our mistakes."
Lui was pleased with the Salt Lake assignment, since BYU's flooded Smith Fieldhouse precluded any chance of hosting early tournament matches.
"We've never lost there," said Lui of Ute Field, site of where BYU started its Elite Eight run.
While the Cougars come in stumbling, Weber State is riding a high. Head coach Timp Crompton's Wildcats have won seven straight matches, claimed their second consecutive Big Sky Conference tournament title and won 13 of their last 14 outings.
WSU is led by a pair of 29-point scorers — Rochelle Hoover (11 goals and seven assists) and Linsey McFalran (10 and nine). Haley McCoy and Natalie Ellis have helped with scoring, with keeper Kandice Golar leading the Weber defense.
Beck has 10 goals and seven assists, joined by Bobbie Tillotson (six and seven) and freshman Katie Larkin (four and six) in a high-powered, spread-the-scoring attack.
With the Cougars having outscored opponents 43-9 and outshooting them 348-139, goalkeeper Erika Woodbury and the BYU defense are ranked in the top 10 in goals-against averages.
BYU leads the all-time series against Weber State 9-0, with all but one of those matches played in Provo. The most recent pairing was the Cougars' Sept. 2 home-opener, when a hat trick by freshman reserve Jessica Aquino sparked BYU to a 5-1 victory.
If the Cougars beat the Wildcats and advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. second-round match at Ute Field, they'll face another familiar foe in the winner of Thursday's Utah-Arizona first-round pairing. On Oct. 1, BYU beat No. 21 Arizona 2-1 in Tucson, Ariz., and then finished the regular season in a 1-all draw against Utah in Provo.
This fall, BYU faced seven tournament teams — the others being UNLV, Cal (then No. 9), Wisconsin (then No. 14) and Texas (then No. 22). The Cougars compiled a 6-0-1 record against the seven, with the only blemish the draw with Utah.
"Hopefully it has prepared us well," said Rockwood of the single-elimination tourney, "because it all comes down to one game."
Cougars' NCAA history
1996: Despite a 22-1-0 record, the Cougars don't merit an NCAA invite.
1997: The 19-3-0 Cougars get their first invite, falling 1-0 to Santa Clara.
1998: BYU goes three rounds deep, beating Stanford and UCLA and losing to Santa Clara.
1999: BYU beats Cal before losing 2-0 at Santa Clara.
2000: After a first first-round bye, BYU beats Stanford before falling to Santa Clara.
2001: BYU wins its opener against Kansas but is eliminated with a 3-0 loss at Nebraska.
2002: In a first-round match in Provo, Utah claims its first-ever victory against the Cougars.
2003: The Cougars get victories in Salt Lake City against No. 10 Colorado and Idaho State. A shootout victory at Villanova puts BYU into the Elite Elite, but it misses the College Cup with a loss at UConn.
2004: BYU fails to reach the NCAAs.
E-mail: taylor@desnews.com