Hatch's goal gives Cougars first league win

SAN DIEGO -- Sophomore forward Ashley Hatch continued her hot streak as she scored the gamewinner in a 3-2 BYU victory over San Diego on Saturday night to open West Coast Conference play.

The Cougars (7-3-2, 1-0-0) scored two goals in the second half and Hatch's gave BYU its first and only lead of the night. It was also her third straight game scoring a goal and BYU's sixth straight victory. 

The Toreros (4-5-2, 0-1-0) twice took the lead, first in the 13th minute and then again in the 52nd minute.

"San Diego is very dangerous and they took care of their opportunities, especially on the chances they had," BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "For us to be able to bounce back like we did, to continue to fight and continue to battle, we were looking really great tonight."

Niki Fernandes scored the first Cougar equalizer in the 16th minute. Bizzy Phillips' header off a corner kick fell to Fernandes' feet where she rolled it into the corner of the goal past the keeper and a defender. Fernandes is now the fifth active Cougar with 10 career goals joining Jaiden Thornock, Ashley Hatch, Michele Murphy and Marissa Nimmer.

Phillips found a goal of her own to tie the game in the 59th minute. She settled a pass from Hatch and shot from 20 yards out. Her laser beam deflected off a defender and into the goal. Hatch added her goal almost 20 minutes later to put BYU up for good.

Hatch led all Cougars with seven shots, while Medeiros took five and Fernandes took four. Murphy and Phillips were the other players with multiple shots. BYU outshot San Diego 24-9 and put 13 shots on goal to the Toreros three.

BYU returns home to host Portland and Gonzaga on Oct. 9 and Oct. 11. Both games will be televised on BYUtv. Thursday's game against Portland kicks off at 6 p.m. MDT.