There was no big comeback from the BYU women's soccer team Friday night in North Carolina, but the Cougars never stopped trying, and nothing happened that would cause them to hang their heads for even a minute, despite the final score.
Second-seeded Stanford scored two goals in the first four minutes and ended BYU's magical run in the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament, defeating the No. 1-seeded Cougars 2-0 in a College Cup semifinal match in Cary, North Carolina.
"I am really proud of the way we played tonight," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "We fought hard. It didn't go our way, but I think we can walk away with our heads held pretty high. We played really well tonight."
Aside from the first four minutes, the Cougars (20-3-3) dominated the match, but those first four minutes were all that it took for Stanford (20-0-4) to take control and pack the box defensively against the highest-scoring team in the country.
The Cardinal will face Florida State in the championship match on Monday after FSU downed Clemson 2-0 in the first semifinal at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Stanford's Allie Montoya scored in the second minute and Maya Doms added a goal two minutes later to give the defense-minded Cardinal all the scoring it would need.
"We are a really young team and we have no weak spots in our starting lineup, and I think we showed our bench gives us a lot of energy," Doms said. "We showed that we have no weaknesses and our defense is great."
The Cougars will attest to that.
Backed by a pro-BYU crowd more than 2,000 miles away from their Provo campus, the Cougars controlled the run of play the remainder of the match but could never break through against a Stanford team that is No. 2 in the country in fewest goals allowed this season.
The Cougars out-shot the Cardinal 20-3, the most shots Stanford has allowed all season. BYU got four corner kicks, Stanford three. Both teams had just three shots on goal.
Stanford made its shots on goal count; BYU's best one didn't count.
BYU's Ellie Walbruch seemingly scored with 41:45 gone in the first half, but she was called offside and the goal did not stand. Television analysts said it was a bad call and the goal should have counted.
"We thought we had (a goal) in the first half. That would have made a big difference going into the second half in how they would have had to play," Rockwood said. "They kinda boxed it in a little bit, which you do when you are up a couple goals. … It just didn't fall our way tonight."
BYU scored four goals in the second half a week ago to come from behind and knock off North Carolina 4-3 at South Field, but could never find that magic against a Stanford team that hasn't given up more than one goal in any game all season.
The Cougars have allowed five goals in the opening two minutes this season and are used to playing from behind, but not under these conditions.
"Definitely a hard loss, and hard to walk off the field, but just so beyond proud of this team and everyone on it," said Jamie Shepherd, one of 11 seniors.
"You could see that we gave it our all and we just wanted to walk off the field knowing that we gave it everything and left with no regrets, so it means a lot. It is hard to lose, but we are super proud of this team."
The Cougars kept the pressure on in the second half, but just couldn't solve Stanford goalkeeper Ryan Campbell, who made three saves.
BYU's Ellie Boren worked herself free for a shot in the 56th minute, but it hit the crossbar and bounced a couple inches in front of the goal line. It was that kind of night for the Cougars.
Brecken Mozingo, Olivia Kate and Izzi Stratton got decent looks in the second half as well, but couldn't find the back of the net.
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Stanford was held to a season-low three shots — all in the first half — but the damage was done before a lot of people even tuned in, or settled into their seats.
"We scored 79 goals this year," Rockwood said. "We could have used another one tonight, would have helped. We have a tremendous attacking team, and it is something we work on every day. We spend a lot of time in front of the goal. That's what makes soccer fun is attacking, and playing, and these girls did it at such an unbelievable job this year."
While it was a disappointing ending to a memorable season, Katoa said the Cougars will return to Utah with no regrets.
"I just feel grateful that we were able to leave BYU a little bit better than we found it and hopefully inspire the next generation of Cougars to keep it rolling," she said.
"We are playing our best soccer when we have that fun energy. We call it funergy. I think that is special at BYU because we have that relationship off the field that is very special. All 32 girls on the team, we genuinely love and care about each other and are genuinely friends."
