Wildcat goalie Kandice Golar saved two penalty kicks to secure the biggest victory in team history Thursday, a 4-3 penalty-kick win that lifted the Weber State women's soccer team over BYU and into the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
Golar, who struggled in a 5-1 loss to the Cougars in the third game of this season, had 11 saves, including the two stellar penalty-kick saves to seal the victory after the teams remained tied 1-1 after two overtime periods.
"It was great, it was so great," Golar said after the game. "I'm still taking it in. I played so much better in this game, and we're a much better team from the last game." Weber coach Tim Crompton said the previous loss to BYU allowed his team to sneak into the NCAA tournament under the radar of other teams.
"We knew coming into this game that people probably weren't going to know how good we really were," he said.
After the loss at BYU on Sept. 2, the Wildcats went on a tear, going 13-2 and sweeping through the Big Sky Conference, capturing the tournament crown last week.
Crompton said the BYU loss was not a true indicator of his team's talent. "We just kind of melted down in that game," he said. "I think there were four goals in 15 minutes in that game, and other than that, we were OK."
BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said her team did not take the Wildcats lightly and congratulated Weber State for advancing.
"I certainly don't think we overlooked Weber State," she said. "They've won 13 out of 14 games and a conference championship, and you don't overlook a team like that. Our girls were focused all week — and I believe we did everything in our power to prepare for this game."
The Cougars seemed to have early control offensively. BYU outshot Weber State 5-2 early and nearly scored in the eighth minute when senior midfielder Charlene Lui sent a shot off the crossbar.
Momentum quickly changed, when the Wildcats pushed deep into Cougar territory in the 13th minute and forward Sarah Cortez scored her first goal of the season, a blistering shot from the shallow right side of the goal box to the bottom-left corner of the goal, well beyond BYU goalie Erika Woodbury's reach.
"I've definitely been struggling to find the back of the net, but to score in any game, and have it be against BYU, it felt really good," Cortez said.
The Wildcats had BYU on its heels following the score, as Cougar defenders were hard-pressed to fend off a relentless attack.
BYU began showing life in the final 15 minutes of the first half but misfired on key scoring opportunities. At one point, Jaime Beck and Brooke Thulin sent back-to-back corner kicks out of bounds, a costly mistake for a team that has thrived on corner-kick scoring this season.
BYU had 13 corner kicks in the game, while Weber State did not get one.
The Cougars outshot the Wildcats 22-13, but the inability to convert key scoring opportunities, like corner kicks, proved to be their undoing.
In the second half, BYU came out on the offensive and appeared to have righted the ship, creating numerous close calls before Beck put the Cougars back in the game when she headed in a hard crossing pass from Bobbi Tillotson.
The Cougars appeared to be in control after that, but the Wildcats didn't break. The overtime periods were a see-saw battle of narrowly missed scoring opportunities for both teams.
That, Rockwood said, was ultimately the difference.
"I don't say this too often, but I believe we have to be one of the most unlucky teams," Rockwood said. "We did everything we needed to do, we created scoring opportunities, we put the ball in front of the net and it was bouncing around, and it wouldn't fall for us."
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