BYU Soccer Team Starts Tourney Play

The Daily Herald Feature Story

Women's Soccer Home HEADLINES BYU Falls to No. 1 Stanford, 2-0, in NCAA Tournament BYU Defeats UC Santa Barbara, 2-0, to Advance to Second Round of NCAA Tournament MWC Women's Soccer Weekly Release RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college soccer action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

Nov. 15, 2001

PROVO, Utah - After wrapping up its third straight Mountain West Conference championship, the BYU women's soccer team will make its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament starting today at the University of Nebraska.

The Cougars will take on Kansas in the first round today at 3:30 p.m. Nebraska will follow at 6 p.m. against Boston College. The winners of those contests will face off on Saturday.

In five straight visits to the NCAA tourney, the Cougars have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen twice. Last season, BYU earned a first-round bye, but after defeating Stanford, the Cougars fell to Santa Clara, 2-1.

BYU clinched its third straight MWC championship crown by defeating UNLV 2-1 in Saturday's title game. Lydia Ojuka and Kelly Hunsberger scored for the Cougars.

Ojuka was named MVP after scoring three goals in two games during the conference tournament. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Aleisha Cramer, Jennie Christianson and Aurelin Weidner. Cramer also won conference player of the year honors.

Kansas is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Jayhawks finished fourth in the Big 12 with a 7-3 record, 13-6-0 overall.

Hilla Rantala, a senior forward from Finland, is the team's leading scorer with 10 goals and 12 assists for 32 points. Monica Brothers and Rachel Gilfillan have 21 and 18 points, respectively.