No. 20 USC Slips By Cougars, 1-0

Fennell scores lone goal at 32 minute mark.

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Sept. 23, 2002

LOS ANGELES - In a very hard-fought contest, the BYU women's soccer team fell 1-0 to No. 20 USC in Los Angeles on Saturday. With the loss, the Cougars move to 3-4 on the year while the Trojans are 3-3-1.

USC's lone goal came in the 32nd minute when senior midfielder Ali Fennell split two Cougar defenders and knocked the ball past Cougar keeper Mandy Gott. The Trojans took 12 shots in the first half, compared to three for BYU.

"They had a bit of a run in the first half," said BYU assistant coach Chris Watkins. "But we settled down quite a bit in the second half and put some pressure on them."

The second half saw the Cougars repeatedly attempt to break through USC's defense. BYU out-shot USC 7-3 in the second half, and Gott recorded seven saves for the game.

Junior forward/midfielder Lydia Ojuka nearly tied the game with a diving header that went just wide of the goal in the waning seconds of the game.

"It's disappointing to lose, but we had four freshman out there on the field at the end of the game trying to win it," said Watkins. "We knew USC was a good team."

BYU returns to Southern California on Wednesday, Sept. 25 to face UCLA at 2 p.m. The Cougars then come back to Provo Friday, Sept. 27 to play St. Mary's in a BYU Television/KBYU telecast at 7 p.m.