Ojuka Leads Cougars Into MWC Championship Game

LAS VEGAS - (Nov.8, 2001) Lydia Ojuka's two first half goals propelled BYU's women's soccer team into this year's MWC Championship game with a 2-0 shutout over instate rival Utah, Thursday.

Ojuka, the sophomore forward from Tucson, Arizona was at the right place at the right time for the two headers at the 11th and 24th minute marks. Both goals came from very close range rebounding off Ute defenders. As always, the meetings between the two very competitive instate rivals was a very physical contest that saw three yellow caution cards in the first half of play. The second half remained scoreless despite several scoring opportunities by both teams.

"Obviously we're excited with the win, although it wasn't a very pretty one," said BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood. "We wanted to come out strong early and that's exactly what Lydia did for us."

"Utah played very well against us today and they kept pressuring us for the entire 90 minutes," added coach Rockwood.

The Cougars outshot the Utes 17 to nine in the 11th meeting between the two instate rivals

Utah was the no. 4 seed in the conference tournament and advanced into the semifinal game by defeating San Diego State 3-0 on Wednesday.

BYU, the number one seeded team coming into the tournament with a 5-1 record had a first round bye. They await the winner of the second semifinal game between hosts UNLV and Air Force. Both teams advanced with wins over Wyoming and New Mexico respectively.

The title game kicks off Sat. Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. PST at Peter Johann Memorial Field on the UNLV campus. This will be BYU's third straight time playing in the conference championship finals after winning the last two.

The Cougars are currently on a four-game winning streak and the 2-0 shutout over the Utes was the team's 10th this season.

-AGATE-

BYU-2 ; UU-0

Scoring Summary:

BYU-Lydia Ojuka, 11:00 (unassisted)

BYU-Lydia Ojuka , 24:23 (Aleisha Cramer, assist)

Shots:

BYU-17, UU-9

Goalkeeper Saves:

BYU-Jennifer Waldron (5)

UU- Lynnsey Asay (6)