PROVO -- After a physical battle against instate-rival Utah State (4-6-1), No. 17 BYU (8-2-1) came out with a 3-0 win Saturday in front of 3,148 fans at South Field.

The game tallies the second-highest crowd this season and the fifth shutout for the Cougars.

“Coming out strong has been our focus all season,” said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. “Utah State always has a good team and we knew we had to be at our best. Our intensity and our desire to move the ball forward led us to three nice goals."

The 3-0 win marks the first regular-season game where the Cougars have won by more than two goals this season. The last time the Cougars posted a deficit of two or more goals was on Nov. 13, 2008, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, beating Virginia Tech. 2-0.

The Cougars were led by Alyssa Vander Veur with five shots on goal while Kassidy Christensen-Shumway added four and Carlee Payne posted three. Cougar goalie McKinzie Olson tallied two saves on the night.

After the first four shots on goal, the fifth went in from Alyssa Vander Veur who found the ball in the middle of the field from Kassidy Shumway and put it past keeper, Milli Merrill, in the 12th minute.

In the 14th minute the ball found its way into BYU territory where Lindsi Lisonbee would clear it up the right side to Stacy Bartholomew who let Lauren Anderson run it up. Anderson crossed it in front of the midddle of the goal, but Carlee Payne wasn’t in the right spot to tap it in. Christensen-Shumway recovered the ball, centering it to Payne who would take the sixth shot on goal, and hit the back of the net for goal number two.

Payne has now scored a goal in eight of BYU’s 11 games. She leads the Cougars with nine goals and 30 shots this season.

The Cougars continued to take a handful of shots and would go into the half up 2-0. Utah State finally got its first shot on goal in the 31st minute from Lauren Hansen, slowly rolling to McKinzie Olson for the save.

In the 43rd minute of play, after Mercede Koning fouled Aggie Lauren Hansen just outside the 18, the Aggies took the direct kick. The shot at the the four-man wall would hit Koning in the face to deflect it away for the Cougars.

In the first half, the Aggies only had one shot on goal, compared to the Cougars’ 13. Shumway and Vander Veur led the Cougars in shots with four shots on goal apiece in the first half.

Shumway chased a ball into the goal box that was picked up by Aggie keeper, Merrill, just before Shumway could get to it. Merrill then picked up her elbow as Shumway ran past, getting a foul called in the box, allowing Anderson to set up for a penalty kick. With 26 minutes left, Anderson took the PK, sending it into the right side of the net for the third goal of the night.

The Aggies gave the Cougars a scare in the 75th minute, right after Cougar keeper Erica Owens subbed. Utah State had a breakaway down the field and would take the shot on goal. Owens slowed the ball through her fingertips in front of the open net where Hermann Trophy Candidate Andrea Willis would clear it away from the Cougar net.

“We had a lot of good play from several of our midfielders,” Rockwood said. “Cami Jensen subbed in to give us some good minutes.”

BYU held off Utah State for the rest of the game, playing 21 of the players on its roster.

The Cougars continue play at home next Thursday at 7 p.m. when they take on Oregon and then host instate-rival Utah Saturday at 8 p.m.

Join the official BYU Women’s Soccer Texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive game times and promotions, such as 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

To receive up-to-the-minute updates about each game, follow the BYU soccer team on twitter at www.twitter.com/byusoccer.

For ticket information, visit www.byutickets.com or call 422.BYU1

Soccer Box Score (Final)
                               BYU COUGAR SOCCER
         USU Aggies vs #17 Brigham Young (Sep 26, 2009 at BYU PROVO UT)
USU Aggies (5-5-1) vs.                                  Goals by period       1  2  Tot
Brigham Young (8-2-1)                                   -------------------------------
Date: Sep 26, 2009  Attendance: 3148                    USU Aggies..........  0  0 -  0
Weather:                                                Brigham Young.......  2  1 -  3
USU Aggies                                          Brigham Young
Pos ## Player                Sh SOG  G  A           Pos ## Player                Sh SOG  G  A
------------------------------------------          ------------------------------------------
GK  0  MERRILL, MOLLI......   -   -  -  -           GK  32 OLSON, McKinzie.....   -   -  -  -
MF  3  SHIOZAKI, STEFANI...   -   -  -  -           F   3  ANDERSON, Lauren....   1   1  1  -
F   7  FLANARY, SHANTEL....   1   -  -  -           F   7  PAYNE, Carlee.......   3   3  1  -
F   8  SALMON, ERIN........   -   -  -  -           MF  8  KONING, Mercede.....   -   -  -  -
MF  9  SMART, LINDSEY......   1   1  -  -           D   11 Willis, Andrea......   1   1  -  -
D   12 Feuz, Rachel........   -   -  -  -           F   13 BARTHOLOMEW, Stacy..   -   -  -  -
F   17 Hansen, Lauren......   1   1  -  -           MF  15 KAKADELAS, Kelsea...   1   -  -  -
D   18 Porter-Garner, Sydne   -   -  -  -           D   18 LISONBEE, Lindsi....   -   -  -  -
D   19 Norris, Natalie.....   -   -  -  -           F   21 SHUMWAY-C, Kassidy..   4   -  -  1
MF  21 Pond, Heather.......   -   -  -  -           F   22 RINGWOOD, Jessica...   -   -  -  -
D   33 Salmon, Chandra.....   -   -  -  -           F   23 VANDER VEUR, Alyssa.   5   5  1  -
     ---------- Substitutes ----------                   ---------- Substitutes ----------
    4  CAWLEY, COURTNEY....   -   -  -  -               1  OWENS, Erica........   -   -  -  -
    13 Maduell, Allie......   -   -  -  -               4  JENSEN, Cami........   -   -  -  -
    14 Dyches, Jamee.......   -   -  -  -               9  MARSHALL, Jennie....   2   1  -  -
    20 Tillotson, Summer...   -   -  -  -               12 BAZZARONE, Ashley...   -   -  -  -
    24 Sanchez, Marissa....   -   -  -  -               14 JAMESON, Ashleigh...   -   -  -  -
       Totals..............   3   2  0  0               16 JANIS, Auna.........   1   -  -  -
                                                        19 ERNST, Nicole.......   -   -  -  -
                                                        20 DOW-JACKSON, Kristi.   -   -  -  -
                                                        24 WADSWORTH, Amber....   -   -  -  -
                                                        25 URRY-Gilliam, Nicole   -   -  -  -
                                                           Totals..............  18  11  3  1
USU Aggies                                          Brigham Young
## Player                 MIN  GA Saves             ## Player                 MIN  GA Saves
---------------------------------------             ---------------------------------------
0  MERRILL, MOLLI......  90:00  3     8             32 OLSON, McKinzie.....  75:06  0    
                                                    1  OWENS, Erica........  14:54  0     0
                                                    TM TEAM................   0:00  0     0
Shots by period       1  2  Tot                     Saves by period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------                     -------------------------------
USU Aggies..........  1  2 -  3                     USU Aggies..........  5  3 -  8
Brigham Young....... 13  5 - 18                     Brigham Young.......  1  1 -  2
Corner kicks          1  2  Tot                     Fouls                 1  2  Tot
-------------------------------                     -------------------------------
USU Aggies..........  0  0 -  0                     USU Aggies..........  3  4 -  7
Brigham Young.......  3  1 -  4                     Brigham Young.......  2  2 -  4
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL   Time Team     Goal Scorer              Assists              Description
--------------------------------------------------------------
 1.   12:10 BY       VANDER VEUR, Alyssa      SHUMWAY-C, Kassidy
 2.   14:42 BY       PAYNE, Carlee            (unassisted)
 3.   63:51 BY       ANDERSON, Lauren         Penalty kick
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
Officials: Scorer: SARA;
Offsides: USU Aggies 1, Brigham Young 2.

PROVO -- The No. 17 BYU women’s soccer team, after two weeks on the road, is home to play on South Field Wednesday against Southern Utah at 7 p.m. and Saturday against Utah State at 8 p.m.

The Cougars (6-2-1) hold an overall 116-24-8 home record.

Freshman Carlee Payne leads the Cougar offensive with 22 shots and seven goals this year. Payne has scored a goal in six of BYU’s nine games this season and leads the MWC in the number of goals scored per game and the total number of goals scored this season. Payne has already garnered her first Player-of-the-week award for Sept. 14.

Payne was recently named to TopDrawerSoccer.com’s team-of-the-week after her two goals against Northwestern for the win and the only assist in their victory against Arizona.

Sophomore goalie McKinzie Olson has totaled 884 minutes for the Cougars and recorded three shut-out wins over Arizona, William & Mary and top-ranked Oklahoma State.

BYU holds a 4-0 record against Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds comes to Provo with a 2-4-1 record and are currently on a three-game unbeaten streak after defeating Utah Valley and Westminster, and tying with Murray State. Riley Bassett leads the Thunderbirds with 21 shots and two goals this season.

The Aggies are coming to South Field with a 4-4-1 record this year and a 0-6 all-time record against BYU. Shantel Flanary leads the team with 23 shots and four goals.

BYU’s Payne and Utah State’s Allie Maduell were high school teammates at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, California. This will be their first game played against each other since being on the same team.

Live stats for Wednesday and Saturday night’s games can be found through the women’s soccer schedule page.

Live audio can also be heard with Kristen Kozlowski on BYU Radio.

Join the official BYU Women’s Soccer Texting group by texting “wsoc” to 83043. Members of the group receive game times and promotions, such as 2-for-1 discounts to EVERY game!

To receive up-to-the-minute updates about each game, follow the BYU soccer team on twitter at www.twitter.com/byusoccer.

For ticket information, visit www.byutickets.com or call 422.BYU1

Special promotions for this week's games

Wed Sept 23rd vs SUU @ 7pm

-First 500 fans receive the Alyssa Vander Veur “I AM BYU” poster, number 3 of 8 to be released throughout home schedule

-Students with blue foam on body/face from TRUE BLUE FOOTBALL event earlier in day, get in FREE to soccer game

Sat Sept 26th vs Utah State @ 8pm

-First 500 fans receive the Nicole Urry-Gilliam “I AM BYU” poster, number 4 of 8 to be released throughout home schedule

-Show your Colorado State football ticket to get in FREE to soccer game