SALT LAKE CITY - The second-seeded BYU Cougars advanced to their fifth straight MWC title match today after defeating sixth-seeded New Mexico, 3-2, in the semifinals of the 2003 Mountain West Conference Women's Soccer Championship at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.

After a scoreless first half, New Mexico freshman midfielder/forward Amy Nelson set off a scoring frenzy 56 seconds into the second half with her goal from 10 yards out.

Defensive Player of the Year Aleisha Rose got BYU on the board three minutes later as her shot from 12 yards out found the upper right corner of the net to tie the score at one apiece. Senior forward/midfielder Lydia Ojuka made her presence felt scoring the next two goals for the Cougars to put them up, 3-1. Her first goal came in the 77th-minute when she placed a shot into the upper left hand corner from five yards out. Ojuka's second goal came in the 83rd-minute on a 40-yard shot that went over New Mexico goalkeeper Kristen Winters head.

Lobo freshman midfielder Kellee Hafner brought the Lobos back to within a goal with five minutes left in the match after taking a pass from defender/midfielder Ashley Lowery and putting it past Cougar goalie Ashley Smith for the score. UNM had a chance to tie the score and send the game into overtime, but a free kick after a hand ball with 40 seconds left in the match sailed over the goal and out of bounds.

The Cougars will play the winner of Utah/UNLV in the championship match Saturday, Nov. 8 at noon.