Paid of Pac-12 Road Games This Week

by Whitney Jordan
August 23, 2012
<p>PROVO, Utah - The BYU women's soccer team will play a pair of Pac-12 road games this week beginning on Thursday, Aug. 23, at Arizona at 7 p.m. PT and ending on Saturday, Aug. 25, at in-state rival Utah at 1 p.m. MT.</p> <p>BYU returns seven starters in 2011 All-American and Hermann Trophy Candidate&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/lindsi-lisonbee-cutshall">Lindsi Lisonbee Cutshall</a>, Scholar All-American&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/carlee-payne-holmoe">Carlee Payne Holmoe</a>, seniors&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/jessica-ringwood">Jessica Ringwood</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/ashley-bazzarone">Ashley Bazzarone</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/dana-oldroyd-cusick">Dana Oldroyd Cusick</a>, and juniors&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/rachel-manning">Rachel Manning</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/niki-fernandes">Niki Fernandes</a>.</p> <p class="p1">The Cougars are coming off a 3-2 overtime victory at UC Irvine last Friday with goals from Fernandes, freshman<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/michelle-murphy">Michelle Murphy</a>&nbsp;and sophomore&nbsp;<a href="http://byucougars.com/athlete/w-soccer/jaiden-thornock">Jaiden Thornock</a>.</p> <p class="p1">Arizona is coming off a 2-1 season-opening loss to then-No. 18 Long Beach State, a team BYU will play on Aug. 30 at home. The Cougars and Wildcats have met 11 times before with BYU leading the series 9-1-1.</p> <p class="p1">The Wildcats were picked to finish in last place in the 2012 Pac-12 Preseason Poll after tough 2010 and 2011 seasons. They return all seven goal scorers in juniors Jazmin Ponce, Ana-Maria Montoya, Susana Melendez and Jessica Culver, sophomores LeeAndra Smith and Brie DeFelice, and senior Alex Smith. Montoya recently returned from playing for team Colombia in the Olympics.</p> <p class="p1">Fans can follow Thursday's game against Arizona through a live stats link available on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/ariz-w-soccer-sched.html">Wildcats' schedule page</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p1">The Utah Utes dropped their season opener to Utah State in a 1-0 decision and will play one more game, against Southern Utah, before meeting BYU on Saturday. The Cougars and Utes have a long tradition of soccer between them. BYU leads the overall series 18-5-1.</p> <p class="p1">In 2010 the Utes finished 10-10-2 but were able to turn things around just a bit in 2011. After a tough start, the team went 6-5-0 in league play and finished in fifth place. This season, they&rsquo;ve been chosen to finish eighth in the 2012 Preseason Poll with top returning scorers McKel Wall and Harley Spier leading the attack.</p> <p class="p1">Saturday's game against Utah can be followed online through&nbsp;<a href="http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/utah-w-soccer-sched.html">Gametrack</a><a href="http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/utah-w-soccer-sched.html">er</a>&nbsp;and is being shown&nbsp;live on&nbsp;<a href="http://pac-12.com/AboutPac-12Enterprises/ChannelFinder.aspx">Pac-12 Television</a>. Live radio is also available through&nbsp;<a href="http://byuradio.org/">BYU Radio</a>.&nbsp;</p>
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