Oct. 2, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - In front of a season-high crowd of 555, the Utah State soccer team fell to Brigham Young, 2-0, at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field on Thursday. With the loss the Aggies fall to 5-7-1, while BYU moves to 7-5.

The Cougars now lead the all-time series, 6-0.

BYU out-shot USU Thursday, 12-9, including nine shots on goal compared to four for the Aggies, who were playing their final non-conference match of the schedule.

"We played a better second half than first, but it just wasn't quite enough," USU head coach Heather Cairns said. "We just didn't create enough quality chances."

The Cougars got on the board in the 18th minute on a header from Kassidy Christensen off a corner kick assist from Lauren Anderson. That goal would stand up for the remainder of the half, as BYU had a 1-0 intermission lead.

USU was out-shot in the first half, 10-3, but had a 6-3 shots advantage in the second.

However, one of BYU's second-half shots found the back of the net as Christensen returned the favor to Anderson in the 70th minute, as Anderson beat USU senior goalkeeper Ali Griffin with a low shot to the right corner.

"I think we did a better job in the second half than the first," Cairns said. "I think it was good that we held them in the run of play in the first half, but sometimes when you place a certain emphasis on attacking, you open up some holes which is what happened with their second goal, she found that hole."

USU had one of its best chances late in the first half, but a header from freshman forward Shantel Flanery went wide and the Aggies had another prime opportunity early in the second stanza, but sophomore forward Lauren Hansen's shot also went wide of the frame.

"You've got to attack and have to take chances attacking, we didn't have a lot of opportunities but we did have Flanary's header as well as the shot by Lauren, so if either one of those go in, its a 1-1 game and that dramatically changes things," Cairns said.

Another major impact for the Aggies was Griffin, who made a season-high seven saves in the match, including back-to-back shots from point blank range, using her face to keep the ball out of the net on one of them, drawing blood but she refused to come out.

"Ali was great today, she kept us in the match with some tremendous saves," Cairns said.

BYU's McKinzie Olson made one save in 72 minutes of action before giving way to Aleena Shelton, who made three saves in her 18 minutes in the net, staving off USU's late rally attempts.

"We had our chances, we just didn't have enough," Cairns said. "We've got to be better in the attacking third, against any type of opponent. We're just not playing well in the attacking third. That's something that we'll improve on as we enter conference play."

The Aggies open Western Athletic Conference play on Friday, Oct. 10, hosting Idaho at 3 p.m. at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.

USU is 3-0 in WAC openers. This is the second-straight season that the Aggies have opened WAC action against Idaho, beating the Vandals, 4-0 last season.

Live stats will be available for the match against Idaho through the women's soccer page on www.utahstateaggies.com, by clicking on GameTracker in the current events box.

Admission to all Utah State home soccer matches is free.

Scoring SummaryGoal    Time    Team    Goal Scorer Assists Description1.  18:00   BYU Christensen, Kassidy    Anderson, Lauren    header from four yards out off of CK2.  69:08   BYU Anderson, Lauren    Christensen, Kassidy    shot from 12 yards out to bottom right
Shots By Period  1   2   TotalBYU 10  2   12Utah State  3   6   9
Corner Kicks 1   2   TotalBYU 2   2   4Utah State  0   2   2
Saves By Period  1   2   TotalBYU 1   3   4Utah State  7   0   7
Fouls    1   2   TotalBYU 6   9   15Utah State  4   3   7