PROVO — Brooke Bowman scored an overtime goal off Carolyn Swenson's second assist of the match, lifting the 20th-ranked BYU women's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Idaho State in nonconference action Tuesday night.
With the win before a South Field crowd of 1,024, BYU improves to 2-0 going into Friday's match at No. 18 Georgia. Idaho State drops to 1-2.
With BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood and staff emphasizing better spacing and positioning following last weekend's season-opening victory against Weber State, the Cougars complied with a high-octane attack that resulted in outshooting the Bengals 20-5, including a 10-0 advantage in corner kicks.
And the Cougars' two goals were precise executions of the forwards taking the ball deep to the end line and then dumping into the middle for a point-blank conversion.
"Carolyn played a perfect ball, and all I had to do was tap it in," Bowman said, who scored the sudden-death clincher four minutes into the first 10-minute overtime period..
Swenson set up both goals — one in either corner of the field — by using her speed to push the ball wide past ISU defenders. "I was just trying to send it back," she said of the second assist. "I knew if I sent it back, someone would be there."
Idaho State opened the scoring with the sole first-half goal in the 27th minute, a towering free kick from several yards beyond midfield by Jennifer Loo that bounced in front of and then over Cougar keeper Erika Woodbury and into the net.
"It can be devastating to get scored on that way," said Rockwood, complimenting an otherwise "very solid" effort by her defense.
BYU scored the equalizer five minutes into the second half, as Swenson took a ball deep into the right corner and drew ISU keeper Lyndsay Gensler well beyond the net. Swensen centered to Amberlea Anderson in front of the goal, rewarding Anderson for her active attacking — including four shots — in the first 50 minutes.
UTAH STATE 1, WEBER STATE 0: At Logan, Dana Peart netted the game-winner with less than four minutes left in the second overtime to give Utah State a 1-0 win over intra-state rival Weber State in soccer action Tuesday afternoon at USU's Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field. The win gives the Aggies a 6-5-1 overall record against the Wildcats, claiming victory in four of the last five meetings, including the last three at Logan. Utah State also improves to 2-0 on the season for the first time since 1998.
Utah State played Idaho State and Weber State in 1998, the Aggies' same two opponents to open this season. Utah State improves to 7-2-1 in its last 10 regular-season matches.
The overtime win broke a bit of bad luck for the Aggies, who notched their first extra-time victory since 2004, after going 0-2-4 in overtime matches last season. Utah State is now 6-13-11 all-time in extra minutes.
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